Evgeny Lifshitz

Evgeny Mikhailovich Lifshitz ForMemRS (Russian: Евге́ний Миха́йлович Ли́фшиц; Ukrainian: Євге́н Миха́йлович Лі́фшиць; 21 February 1915 – 29 October 1985) was a leading Soviet physicist and brother of the physicist Ilya Lifshitz.

Evgeny Lifshitz
Евгений Лифшиц
Born	Evgeny Mikhailovich Lifshitz (1915-02-21)21 February 1915 Kharkov, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	29 October 1985(1985-10-29) (aged 70) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Known for	Lifshitz theory of van der Waals force Landau–Lifshitz–Gilbert equation Landau–Lifshitz model BKL singularity Lifschitz point Landau–Lifshitz force Landau–Lifshitz pseudotensor Landau–Lifshitz aeroacoustic equation Course of Theoretical Physics
Awards	Lenin Prize
Scientific career
Fields	Physics
Institutions	University of Kharkov Kharkov Polytechnic Institute
Doctoral advisor	Lev Landau
Doctoral students	Lev Pitaevskii

Work

Born into a Jewish family in Kharkov, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire (now Kharkiv, Ukraine). Lifshitz is well known in the field of general relativity for coauthoring the BKL conjecture concerning the nature of a generic curvature singularity. As of 2006^[update], this is widely regarded as one of the most important open problems in the subject of classical gravitation.

With Lev Landau, Lifshitz co-authored Course of Theoretical Physics, an ambitious series of physics textbooks, in which the two aimed to provide a graduate-level introduction to the entire field of physics. These books are still considered invaluable and continue to be widely used.

Lifshitz was the second of only 43 people ever to pass Landau's "Theoretical Minimum" examination. He made many invaluable contributions, in particular to quantum electrodynamics, where he calculated the Casimir force in an arbitrary macroscopic configuration of metals and dielectrics.

Since 1975, a special multicritical point, the Lifshitz point, carries his name.

Bibliography

Belinskii, V. A.; Khalatnikov, I. M.; Lifshitz, E. M. (1970). "Oscillatory approach to a singular point in the relativistic cosmology". Advances in Physics. 19 (80): 525. Bibcode:1970AdPhy..19..525B. doi:10.1080/00018737000101171. The paper introducing the BKL conjecture.
Landau, L. D.; Lifschitz, E. M. (1976). Mechanics. Course of Theoretical Physics. Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). London: Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-021022-8.
Landau, L. D.; Lifschitz, E. M. (1971). Classical Theory of Fields. Course of Theoretical Physics. Vol. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-016019-0.
Landau, L. D.; Lifschitz, E. M. (1977). Quantum Mechanics: Non-relativistic Theory. Course of Theoretical Physics. Vol. 3 (3rd ed.). London: Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-020940-8.
Berestetskii, V. B.; Lifschitz, E. M.; Pitaevskii, L. P. (1982). Quantum Electrodynamics. Course of Theoretical Physics. Vol. 4 (2nd ed.). London: Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-026503-0.
Lifschitz, E. M.; Pitaevskii, L. P. (1981). Physical Kinetics. Course of Theoretical Physics. Vol. 10 (1st ed.). Oxford: Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-026480-8.

Landau and Lifshitz suggested in the third volume of the Course of Theoretical Physics that the then-standard periodic table had a mistake in it, and that lutetium should be regarded as a d-block rather than an f-block element. Their suggestion was fully vindicated by later findings, and in 1988 was endorsed by a report of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

Work

Bibliography

See also