Lev Petrovich Pitaevskii ( ; 18 January 1933 – 23 August 2022) was a Russian

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

, who made contributions to the theory of

quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

electrodynamics In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...

, low-temperature physics,

plasma physics Plasma () is a state of matter characterized by the presence of a significant portion of charged particles in any combination of ions or electrons. It is the most abundant form of ordinary matter in the universe, mostly in stars (including th ...

, and

condensed matter physics Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid State of matter, phases, that arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms and elec ...

. Together with his PhD supervisor

Evgeny Lifshitz Evgeny Mikhailovich Lifshitz (; ; 21 February 1915 – 29 October 1985) was a leading Soviet physicist and brother of the physicist Ilya Lifshitz. Work Born into a Ukrainian Jewish family in Kharkov, Kharkov Governorate, Russian Empire (now K ...

and with Vladimir Berestetskii, he was also the co-author of a few volumes of the influential Landau–Lifschitz '' Course of Theoretical Physics'' series. His academic status was

professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Education

Pitaevskii was born in

Saratov Saratov ( , ; , ) is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the List of cities and tow ...

on 18 January 1933. He graduated from

Saratov State University Saratov Chernyshevsky State University (, СГУ, transcribed as SGU) is a higher education and research institution in Russia. In 2023 it was ranked #1,156 in the world by ''US News & World Report''. Named for Nikolay Chernyshevsky, the univer ...

in 1955. In 1958, he joined the staff of the Institute of Physical Problems of the

Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS; ''Rossíyskaya akadémiya naúk'') consists of the national academy of Russia; a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation; and additional scientific and social units such ...

. In 1971, he became a professor at the

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT; , also known as PhysTech), is a public university, public research university located in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It prepares specialists in theoretical physics, theoretical and applied physics, ...

Research

Collaborating with

Vitaly Ginzburg Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg ForMemRS (; – 8 November 2009) was a Russian physicist who was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003, together with Alexei Abrikosov and Anthony Leggett for their "pioneering contributions to the theory ...

, Pitaevskii developed a theory of

superfluid Superfluidity is the characteristic property of a fluid with zero viscosity which therefore flows without any loss of kinetic energy. When stirred, a superfluid forms vortex, vortices that continue to rotate indefinitely. Superfluidity occurs ...

ity in the neighbourhood of a

transition point In the field of fluid dynamics the point at which the boundary layer changes from laminar to turbulent is called the transition point. Where and how this transition occurs depends on the Reynolds number, the pressure gradient, pressure fluctuati ...

. He showed that, at sufficiently low temperatures, liquid

helium-3 Helium-3 (3He see also helion) is a light, stable isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron. (In contrast, the most common isotope, helium-4, has two protons and two neutrons.) Helium-3 and hydrogen-1 are the only stable nuclides with ...

should undergo a transition to the superfluid state. Lev Pitaevskii was educated at the Landau school in Moscow. He was a PhD student of

Lev Landau Lev Davidovich Landau (; 22 January 1908 – 1 April 1968) was a Soviet physicist who made fundamental contributions to many areas of theoretical physics. He was considered as one of the last scientists who were universally well-versed and ma ...

and during the first years of his scientific activity at the Institute for Physical Problems (now Kapitza Institute), he made contributions to the theory of

, including the most celebrated paper on quantized vortices where he developed what is now called the Gross–Pitaevskii theory of

Bose–Einstein condensate In condensed matter physics, a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) is a state of matter that is typically formed when a gas of bosons at very low Density, densities is cooled to temperatures very close to absolute zero#Relation with Bose–Einste ...

s, one of the theories more systematically used to describe the physics of

ultracold atom In condensed matter physics, an ultracold atom is an atom with a temperature near absolute zero. At such temperatures, an atom's quantum-mechanical properties become important, especially through what's known as a "superfluid", such as Superfl ...

ic gases nowadays. Another famous paper was written in collaboration with Igor E. Dzyaloshinsky and

on the

van der Waals force In molecular physics and chemistry, the van der Waals force (sometimes van der Waals' force) is a distance-dependent interaction between atoms or molecules. Unlike ionic or covalent bonds, these attractions do not result from a chemical elec ...

s where the theory of the thermal and quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field was developed in a systematic way with important implications on modern applications to

solid state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as solid-state chemistry, quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state p ...

and

atomic physics Atomic physics is the field of physics that studies atoms as an isolated system of electrons and an atomic nucleus. Atomic physics typically refers to the study of atomic structure and the interaction between atoms. It is primarily concerned wit ...

. Lev Pitaevskii started collaborating with the

University of Trento The University of Trento (Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Trento'') is an Italian university located in Trento and nearby Rovereto. It has been able to achieve considerable results in didactics, research, and international relations accord ...

at the end of the 1980s through a series of long term visits. After a few years spent at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa he eventually became professor of Trento University in 1998. After that, he worked at the Bose-Einstein Condensation Center (BEC Center) in Trento, a joint initiative of the Italian National Institute of Optics (part of CNR) in Italy and of the Physics Department of the University of Trento. Since November 2022, the Bose-Einstein Condensation Center in Trento has been renamed after him as "Pitaevskii Center on Bose-Einstein Condensation", in honour of his outstanding achievements and in acknowledgement for his long time contributions.

Honours and awards

*1987 –

Landau Prize The Landau Gold Medal () is the highest award in theoretical physics awarded by the Russian Academy of Sciences and its predecessor the Soviet Academy of Sciences. It was established in 1971 and is named after Soviet physicist and Nobel Laurea ...

in recognition of his research in plasma physics, *1997 –

Eugene Feenberg Memorial Medal {{One source, date=March 2020 The Eugene Feenberg Memorial Medal (also Feenberg Award) is a prize for quantum many-body theory named for American physicist Eugene Feenberg. It has been awarded at the ''International Conference on recent progress in ...

, "for his seminal contributions to the theory of Bose superfluids and the helium liquids, specifically for his studies of fluctuations close to the lambda transition and of elementary excitations and vorticity in a superfluid, which have provided a cornerstone of our understanding of key aspects of superfluid 4He and that has now expanded to the field of cold bosonic atoms" *2003 – Aquila di San Venceslao Highest Honour from the city of Trento *2008 – Landau Gold Medal in recognition of his contributions to modern theoretical physics, including the theory of Bose condensation of the Gross–Pitaevskii and for his contribution to the writing of new and previously unreleased update parts of the world-famous course in theoretical physics Landau–Lifshitz. *2012 - PhD Honoris Causa at the Université Montpellier (France) *2013 - PhD Honoris Causa at the University of Innsbruck (Austria) *2013 - PhD Honoris Causa at Texas AM University (USA) *2018 -

Pomeranchuk Prize The Pomeranchuk Prize is an international award for theoretical physics, awarded annually since 1998 by the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP) from Moscow. It is named after Russian physicist Isaak Yakovlevich Pomeranchuk, wh ...

awarded together with Giorgio Parisi *2018 -

Enrico Fermi Prize The Enrico Fermi Prize, first awarded in 2001, is given by the Italian Physical Society (Società Italiana di Fisica). It is a yearly award of €30,000 honoring one or more Members of the Society who have "particularly honoured physics with thei ...

Italian Physical Society, awarded together with Federico Capasso and Erio Tosatti) *2019 - BEC Senior Award awarded together with Sandro Stringari *2021 -

Lars Onsager Prize The Lars Onsager Prize is a prize in theoretical statistical physics awarded annually by the American Physical Society. Prize recipients receive a medal, certificate, and $10,000. It was established in 1993 by Drs. Russell and Marian Donnelly in m ...

for originating the Gross-Pitaevskii theory of non-uniform Bose-Einstein condensates and subsequent extensive contributions to the theory of quantum fluids, especially as applied to ultracold atomic gases.

Works

Books and monographs

See '' Course of Theoretical Physics'' for his contributions to that series. *

Papers

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitaevskii, Lev 1933 births 2022 deaths Russian theoretical physicists Russian physicists Condensed matter physicists Full Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences Full Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences Saratov State University alumni Academic staff of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Recipients of the Order of Friendship of Peoples Scientists from Saratov