Leonid Samuilovich Leibenson or Leybenzon, russian: Леонид Самуилович Лейбензон (14 June 1879 – 15 March 1951) was a Russian and Soviet physicist who worked on
fluid dynamics
In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids— liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) an ...
. The Leibenson equation named after him describes the flow of liquids through porous media. He helped establish research on petrochemical fluid research, developed the first Soviet wind tunnel and worked on mathematical approaches to study boundary layers in fluid dynamics.
Biography
Leybenzon was born in
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.Nikolai Y. Zhukovsky suggested that he studied aerodynamics and he graduated in 1906. In 1908 he became an associate professor in applied mathematics at the
Moscow University
M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...
. In 1911 he protested the policy of Lev Casso and quit university to work on oil storage and piping with
Vladimir Shukhov
Vladimir Grigoryevich Shukhov (russian: link=no, Влади́мир Григо́рьевич Шу́хов; – 2 February 1939) was a Russian Empire and Soviet engineer-polymath, scientist and architect renowned for his pioneering works on new ...
. Using seismic evidence he suggested that the Earth's interior was fluid in 1911. He then taught at
Tiflis
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...
from 1913 and at Dorpat (Tartu) from 1915. He received a doctorate and became a professor at the University of Tartu. After the
Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and ad ...
he became a professor at the Georgian University at
Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...
and in 1921 became dean of at the Baku Polytechnic. He returned to Moscow in 1922 and from 1932 he was associated with the Aerohydrodynamic Institute working on aerodynamics working on the stability of elastic shells. In 1936 he was arrested on political charges by the
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
and was exiled to Kazakhstan along with his wife. Living in
Akhtubinsk
Akhtubinsk (russian: Ахту́бинск; kk, Ақтөбе, ''Aqtóbe'') is a town and the administrative center of Akhtubinsky District in Astrakhan Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Akhtuba River (a tributary of the Volga), nort ...
, he moved later to
Temir
Temir ( kk, Темір, ''Temır'') is a town in Aktobe Region of western Kazakhstan. It serves as the administrative center of Temir District.National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Geonames
GeoNames (or GeoNames.org) is a user editable g ...
, and taught at a school, while also working on mathematical methods to examine airflow. His release was sought by Sergei Chaplygin and he was acquitted in 1939. He returned to Moscow and joined the Institute of Geophysics. Here he examined tidal forces, and the elasticity of the earth's crust. In 1945 he became head of the department of hydrodynamics.