The Kharkiv Theoretical Physics School was founded by

Lev Landau Lev Davidovich Landau (russian: Лев Дави́дович Ланда́у; 22 January 1908 – 1 April 1968) was a Soviet- Azerbaijani physicist of Jewish descent who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics. His a ...

Kharkov Kharkiv ( uk, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest city and municipality in Ukraine.

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

(now

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). It is sometimes referred to as the Landau school — more precisely, one might say that Landau's group at Kharkiv was the beginning of the Landau school that, after Landau moved to the Kapitza’

Institute for Physical Problems P. L. Kapitza Institute for Physical ProblemsNamed after Pyotr Kapitsa. (russian: Институт физических проблем имени П. Л. Капицы РАН) of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The institute was founded in 1934. T ...

in Moscow, included new generations of theoretical physicists from the countries of the former Soviet Union.

was the head of the Kharkhiv Theoretical Physics School from 1932 to 1937, when he left for Moscow. His students at Kharkiv included Alexander Akhiezer,

Evgeny Lifshitz Evgeny Mikhailovich Lifshitz (russian: Евге́ний Миха́йлович Ли́фшиц; February 21, 1915, Kharkiv, Russian Empire – October 29, 1985, Moscow, Russian SFSR) was a leading Soviet physicist and brother of the physicist ...

Ilya Lifshitz Ilya Mikhailovich Lifshitz (russian: Илья́ Миха́йлович Ли́фшиц; January 13, 1917 – October 23, 1982) was a leading Soviet theoretical physicist, brother of Evgeny Lifshitz. He is known for his works in solid state phys ...

, and

Isaak Pomeranchuk Isaak Yakovlevich Pomeranchuk (russian: Исаа́к Я́ковлевич Померанчу́к (Polish spelling: Isaak Jakowliewicz Pomieranczuk); 20 May 1913, Warsaw, Russian Empire – 14 December 1966, Moscow, USSR) was a Soviet Union, Sov ...

. Upon the recommendation of

Edward Teller Edward Teller ( hu, Teller Ede; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" (see the Teller–Ulam design), although he did not care fo ...

László Tisza László Tisza (July 7, 1907 – April 15, 2009) was a Hungarian-born American physicist who was Professor of Physics Emeritus at MIT. He was a colleague of famed physicists Edward Teller, Lev Landau and Fritz London, and initiated the two-flui ...

joined, in January 1935, Landau's group at Kharkiv and then returned to Budapest in 1937 after Landau's departure to Moscow. Landau developed a comprehensive exam called the "Theoretical Minimum" which students were expected to pass before admission to the school. The exam covered all aspects of theoretical physics, and between 1934–1937 in Kharkiv and 1937–1961 in Moscow only 43 candidates passed. In this way his students became proper physicists, rather than narrow specialists. In Kharkiv, he and his friend and former student,

, began writing the ''

Course of Theoretical Physics The ''Course of Theoretical Physics'' is a ten-volume series of books covering theoretical physics that was initiated by Lev Landau and written in collaboration with his student Evgeny Lifshitz starting in the late 1930s. It is said that Landau ...

'', ten volumes that together span the whole of the subject and are still widely used as graduate-level physics texts.

Selected scientists associated with the school

Ilya Mikhailovich Lifshitz Ilya Mikhailovich Lifshitz (russian: Илья́ Миха́йлович Ли́фшиц; January 13, 1917 – October 23, 1982) was a leading Soviet theoretical physicist, brother of Evgeny Lifshitz. He is known for his works in solid state phy ...

References

{{reflist, 2 Education in Kharkiv