Course of Theoretical Physics

Cover of the first volume,Mechanics (Russian Edition)
Author	Lev Landau (Vol. 1–3, 5–8) Evgeny Lifshitz (Vol. 1–10) Vladimir Berestetskii [ru] (Vol. 4) Lev Pitaevskii (Vol. 4, 9–10)
Language	Russian,German,English,French,Spanish,Italian,Polish,Hungarian,Chinese,Japanese
Subject	Physics
Genre	Textbook
Publisher	Russian:Fizmatgiz,Fizmatlit,Nauka English:Addison-Wesley,Butterworth-Heinemann,Pergamon Press German:Akademie Verlag,Verlag Harri Deutsch,Europa-Lehrmittel French:Éditions Mir Chinese:Higher Education Press
Publication place	Soviet Union

TheCourse of Theoretical Physics is a ten-volume series of books coveringtheoretical physics that was initiated byLev Landau and written in collaboration with his studentEvgeny Lifshitz starting in the late 1930s.

It is said that Landau composed much of the series in his head while in anNKVD prison in 1938–1939.^[1] However, almost all of the actual writing of the early volumes was done by Lifshitz, giving rise to the witticism, "not a word of Landau and not a thought of Lifshitz".^[2] The first eight volumes were finished in the 1950s, written inRussian and translated intoEnglish in the late 1950s byJohn Stewart Bell, together withJohn Bradbury Sykes, M. J. Kearsley, and W. H. Reid. The last two volumes were written in the early 1980s.Vladimir Berestetskii [ru] andLev Pitaevskii also contributed to the series. The series is often referred to as "Landau and Lifshitz", "Landafshitz" (Russian: "Ландафшиц"),^[3][4] or "Lanlifshitz" (Russian: "Ланлифшиц") in informal settings.

The presentation of material is advanced and typically considered suitable forgraduate-level study.^[5][6] Despite this specialized character, it is estimated that a million volumes of theCourse were sold by 2005.^[7]

The series has been called "renowned" inScience and "celebrated" inAmerican Scientist.^[8][9] A note inMathematical Reviews states, "The usefulness and the success of this course have been proved by the great number of successive editions in Russian, English,French,German and other languages."^[9] At acentenary celebration of Landau's career, it was observed that theCourse had shown "unprecedented longevity."^[10]

In 1962, Landau and Lifshitz were awarded theLenin Prize for their work on theCourse. This was the first occasion on which the Lenin Prize had been awarded for the teaching of physics.^[7]

The following list does not include reprints and revised editions.

• Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1960).Mechanics. Vol. 1 (1st ed.).Pergamon Press.ASIN B0006AWV88.
  • Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1969).Mechanics. Vol. 1 (2nd ed.).Pergamon Press.ISBN 978-0-201-04146-0.
  • Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1976).Mechanics. Vol. 1 (3rd ed.).Butterworth-Heinemann.ISBN 978-0-7506-2896-9.

Volume 1 coversclassical mechanics without special or general relativity, in theLagrangian andHamiltonian formalisms.

• Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1951).The Classical Theory of Fields. Vol. 2 (1st ed.).Addison-Wesley.ASIN B0007G5B42.
  • Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1959).The Classical Theory of Fields. Vol. 2 (2nd ed.).Pergamon Press.
  • Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1971).The Classical Theory of Fields. Vol. 2 (3rd ed.).Pergamon Press.ISBN 978-0-08-016019-1.
  • Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1975).The Classical Theory of Fields. Vol. 2 (4th ed.).Butterworth-Heinemann.ISBN 978-0-7506-2768-9.

Volume 2 coversrelativistic mechanics of particles, andclassical field theory for fields, specificallyspecial relativity andelectromagnetism,general relativity andgravitation.

• Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1958).Quantum Mechanics: Non-Relativistic Theory. Vol. 3 (1st ed.).Pergamon Press.
  • Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1965).Quantum Mechanics: Non-Relativistic Theory. Vol. 3 (2nd ed.).Pergamon Press.
  • Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1977).Quantum Mechanics: Non-Relativistic Theory. Vol. 3 (3rd ed.).Pergamon Press.ISBN 978-0-08-020940-1.

Volume 3 coversquantum mechanics without special relativity.

• Berestetskii, Vladimir B.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M.;Pitaevskii, Lev P. (1971).Relativistic Quantum Theory. Vol. 4 (1st ed.).Pergamon Press.ISBN 978-0-08-017175-3.
  • Berestetskii, Vladimir B.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M.;Pitaevskii, Lev P. (1982).Quantum Electrodynamics. Vol. 4 (2nd ed.).Butterworth-Heinemann.ISBN 978-0-7506-3371-0.

The original edition comprised two books, labelled part 1 and part 2. The first covered general aspects ofrelativistic quantum mechanics and relativisticquantum field theory, leading ontoquantum electrodynamics. The second continued with quantum electrodynamics and what was then known about thestrong andweak interactions. These books were published in the early 1970s, at a time when the strong and weak forces were still not well understood. In the second edition, the corresponding sections were scrapped and replaced with more topics in the well-established quantum electrodynamics, and the two parts were unified into one, thus providing a one-volume exposition on relativistic quantum field theory with the electromagnetic interaction as the prototype of a quantum field theory.

• Statistical Physics. Vol. 5 (1st ed.). 1951.
  • Early version:Landau, Lev D. (1938).Statistical Physics.Clarendon Press.ASIN B00085BKZG.
  • Statistical Physics. Vol. 5 (2nd ed.). 1968.
  • Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1980).Statistical Physics. Vol. 5 (3rd ed.).Butterworth-Heinemann.ISBN 978-0-7506-3372-7.

Volume 5 covers generalstatistical mechanics andthermodynamics and applications, includingchemical reactions,phase transitions, andcondensed matter physics.

• Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1959).Fluid Mechanics. Vol. 6 (1st ed.).Pergamon Press.ISBN 978-0-08-009104-4.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1987).Fluid Mechanics. Vol. 6 (2nd ed.).Butterworth-Heinemann.ISBN 978-0-08-033933-7.

Volume 6 coversfluid mechanics in a condensed but varied exposition, from ideal toviscous fluids, includes a chapter on relativistic fluid mechanics, and another onsuperfluids.

• Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1959).Theory of Elasticity. Vol. 7 (1st ed.).Pergamon Press.
• Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1970).Theory of Elasticity. Vol. 7 (2nd ed.).Pergamon Press.ISBN 978-0-08-006465-9.
• Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1986).Theory of Elasticity. Vol. 7 (3rd ed.).Butterworth-Heinemann.ISBN 978-0-7506-2633-0.

Volume 7 coverselasticity theory of solids, includingviscous solids, vibrations and waves in crystals withdislocations, and a chapter on the mechanics ofliquid crystals.

• Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M. (1960).Electrodynamics of Continuous Media. Vol. 8 (1st ed.).Pergamon Press.ISBN 978-0-08-009105-1.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
• Landau, Lev D.;Lifshitz, Evgeny M.;Pitaevskii, Lev P. (1984).Electrodynamics of Continuous Media. Vol. 8 (2nd ed.).Butterworth-Heinemann.ISBN 978-0-7506-2634-7.

Volume 8 covers electromagnetism in materials, and includes a variety of topics in condensed matter physics, a chapter onmagnetohydrodynamics, and another onnonlinear optics.

• Lifshitz, Evgeny M.;Pitaevskii, Lev P. (1980).Statistical Physics, Part 2: Theory of the Condensed State. Vol. 9 (1st ed.).Butterworth-Heinemann.ISBN 978-0-7506-2636-1.

Volume 9 builds on the original statistical physics book, with more applications to condensed matter theory.

• Lifshitz, Evgeny M.;Pitaevskii, Lev P. (1981).Physical Kinetics. Vol. 10 (1st ed.).Pergamon Press.ISBN 978-0-7506-2635-4.

Volume 10 presents various applications ofkinetic theory to condensed matter theory, and to metals, insulators, and phase transitions.

• Lectures on Theoretical Physics
• List of textbooks on classical and quantum mechanics
• List of textbooks in thermodynamics and statistical mechanics
• List of textbooks in electromagnetism
• The Theoretical Minimum

• Internet Archive:"Internet Archive". Retrieved2013-11-02. (for volumes 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8) and"Internet Archive". Retrieved2013-11-02. (for volume 4), and"Internet Archive". Internet Archive. 1969. Retrieved2016-08-10. (for volume 5).
• Britannica Online:Course of Theoretical Physics
• Internet Archive:Landau-Lifschitz Vol. 1-10

• Classical mechanics
• Nauka (publisher) books
• Physics textbooks
• Works about quantum mechanics
• Series of non-fiction books
• Statistical mechanics
• Pergamon Press books

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