The
L.D. Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics of the
Russian Academy of SciencesThe Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals.Headquartered in Moscow, the Academy is...
is a research institution, located in the small town of
ChernogolovkaChernogolovka is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located 43 km northeast from Moscow border. Town status since 2001. Population: 20,284 ....
near
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
. Its main
fields of research are
- Condensed matter theory
- Quantum field theory
Quantum field theory provides a theoretical framework for constructing quantum mechanical models of systems classically described by fields or of many-body systems. It is widely used in particle physics and condensed matter physics...
- Nuclear
Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies the building blocks and interactions of atomic nuclei.The most commonly known applications of nuclear physics are nuclear power and nuclear weapons, but the research has provided wider applications, including those in medicine , materials...
and elementary particle physicsParticle physics is a branch of physics that studies the elementary constituents of matter and radiation, and the interactions between them. It is also called high energy physics, because many elementary particles do not occur under normal circumstances in nature, but can be created and detected...
- Computational physics
Computational physics is the study and implementation of numerical algorithms to solve problems in physics for which a quantitative theory already exists...
- Nonlinear dynamics
- Mathematical physics
Mathematical physics is the scientific discipline concerned with the interface of mathematics and physics. The Journal of Mathematical Physics defines it as: "the application of mathematics to problems in physics and the development of mathematical methods suitable for such applications and for the...
History
The Landau Institute was formed in 1965 to keep the
Landau school alive after the tragic car accident of Lev Davidovich Landau. Since its foundation, the institute grew rapidly to about one hundred scientists, becoming one of the worldwide best-known and leading institutes for
theoretical physicsTheoretical physics is a branch of physics which employs mathematical models and abstractions of physics in an attempt to explain natural phenomena. Its central core is mathematical physics,[Sometimes mathematical physics and theoretical physics are used synonymously to refer to the...]
.
Unlike many other scientific centers in Russia, the Landau Institute had the strength to cope
with the crisis of the nineties in the last century. Although about
one half of the scientists accepted positions at leading scientific centers and
universities abroad, most of them kept ties with their
home institute, forming a scientific network in the tradition of the Landau school and supporting young
theoretical physicists in the Landau Institute.
Prominent members
Up to 1992, the institute was headed by
Isaak Markovich KhalatnikovIsaak Markovich Khalatnikov is a leading Soviet physicist, well known for his role in developing the BKL conjecture in general relativity....
, who was then
replaced by
Vladimir E. ZakharovVladimir Evgen'evich Zakharov is a Russian physicist. He is currently Regents' Professor of mathematics at The University of Arizona and director of the Mathematical Physics Sector at the Lebedev Physical Institute...
. Its numerous prominent
scientists,
mathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and/or research is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with particular problems related to logic, space, transformations, numbers and more general ideas which encompass these concepts...
s as well as physicists, include
the Nobel laureate
Alexei Alexeyevich AbrikosovAlexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov is a Russian theoretical physicist whose main contributions are in the field of condensed matter physics. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003.-Biography :...
as well as
Lev Gor'kovLev Gor'kov is an American research physicist from Russia who is internationally known for his pioneering work in the field of superconductivity. He is a Professor of Physics at Florida State University and is a Program Director in Condensed Matter at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory...
,
Anatoly LarkinAnatoly Ivanovich Larkin was a Russian-born theoretical physicist, universally recognised as a leader in theory of condensed matter, and who was also a celebrated teacher of several generations of theorists....
,
Arkady MigdalArkady Beynusovich Migdal was a Soviet physicist, member of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He developed the formula that accounts for the Landau–Pomeranchuk–Migdal effect, a reduction of the bremsstrahlung and pair production cross sections at high energies or high matter densities....
,
Sergei Petrovich NovikovSergei Petrovich Novikov is a Russian mathematician, noted for work in both algebraic topology and soliton theory.-Early life:...
, Alexander Polyakov,
Valery PokrovskyValery Pokrovsky is a Russian physicist. He is a member ofthe Landau Institute in Chernogolovka nearMoscow in Russia and a professor for Theoretical Physics at Texas A&M University....
,
and
Yakov G. SinaiYakov Grigorevich Sinai is a mathematician. He has obtained numerous results in the theory of dynamical systems, in mathematical physics and in probability theory. Especially his works on metric theory of dynamical systems...
.