J. B. Sykes – författare

Evgenii Mikhailovich Lifshitz is perhaps best known for his long association with his mentor Lev D Landau, with whom he co-wrote the classic Course of Theoretical Physics, but he was a noted and respected Soviet physicist in his own right. Born in the Ukraine to a scientific family, his long and distinguished career will be remembered for three things - his collaboration with Landau on the internationally acclaimed Course of Theoretical Physics, his work as editor of the Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics, and his scientific papers. As well as his work with Landau, E\M\Lifshitz collaborated with many noted Soviet scientists such as I\M\Khalatnikov, I\E\Dyzaloshinskii, V\V\Sudakov, V\A\Belinskii and the editor of this book, L\P\Pitaevskii. Many of the papers presented in this book include their contribution. Collected together they give a comprehensive and penetrating insight into the man and his work, clearly showing Lifshitz''s contribution to physics and the influences on his work.

The approach to physical kinetics is closely integrated with that of other branches of physics as presented in the companion volumes of this series. The major part of the contents is concerned with a systematic development of the theory of plasmas, the authority being firmly rooted in the pioneer work of Landau. Although the main scope concerns fully ionized gaseous plasmas, corresponding results are also given for partially ionized plasmas, relativistic plasmas, degenerate or non-ideal plasmas and solid state plasmas. Problems (with answers) are to be found in the text. This work completes the Course of Theoretical Physics begun over 20 years ago

A biography of Lev Landau, one of the greatest Soviet theoretical physicists, whose career was cut short by a catastrophic car accident in 1962 and who was still only sixty when he died six years later. He won the Nobel Prize ''for pioneering work on the theory of the condensed state of matter, particularly liquid helium''. But the book shows that Landau''s characterisation of himself as ''one of the last of the universal men of theoretical physics'' was fully justified. Clearly and concisely it describes his achievements in all areas of theoretical physics from hydrodynamics to the quantum theory of fields. Attention is also paid to his genius as a teacher and mentor of young scientists, and throughout the book the true humanity of the man is evident