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Landau Genius Scale ranking of the smartest physicists ever
How Nobel Prize winner physicist Lev Landau ranked the best physics minds of his generation.
September 28, 2020
Photo by: Photo12/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Surprising Science
<ul class="ee-ul"></ul>
<p><strong></strong><strong>Lev Landau</strong> (1908-1968) was one of Soviet Union's best physicists. He made contributions to nuclear theory, quantum field theory, and astrophysics, among others. In 1962, he won a Nobel Prize in Physics f<span style="background-color: initial;">or developing the mathematical theory of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfluidity" target="_blank">superfluidity</a></span><span style="background-color: initial;">. </span>Landau also wrote an immensely influential textbook on physics, teaching generations of scientists.</p><p>A brilliant mind, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Landau" target="_blank">Landau</a> liked to classify everything in his life. He ranked people by their intelligence, beauty (he had a penchant for blondes), contributions to science, how they dressed, and even how they talked – often with a healthy dose of sarcasm. </p><p>One of the most famous of Landau's classifications that has been passed down is his ranking of the greatest physicists of the 20th century. Of course, it wouldn't have later physicists, as he died in 1968, but these are arguably the most significant names.</p><p>This scale is logarithmic, meaning people ranked as rank 1 contributed ten times more (according to Landau) than people ranked as class 2, and so forth. In other words, the higher the number, the less valuable the physicist. </p>
<p>Here's how this scale broke down:</p><p><strong>Rank 0.5 – Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955)</strong></p><p>Einstein, the creator of the Theory of General Relativity, is in a class of his own. Landau thought he was by far the greatest mind among a very impressive group that redefined modern physics. </p><p>Landau added, however, that if the list was to be expanded to scientists of the previous centuries, <strong>Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727),</strong> the titan of classical physics, would also join Einstein at first place with 0.5.</p>
Rank 0.5 – Albert Einstein
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ0NDY3NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNjI2NTU4OH0.FtBYC7oJz-ZOiiGC9y0Z50_JvQChmp-ONa3jhR3SuLA/img.jpg?width=980" id="d6f66" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="61288810a4f035ec2af8957fad4e9015" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Albert Einstein With Displaced Children From Concentration Camps. 1949.
Photo by Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
Rank 1
<p>The group in this class of the smartest physicists included the top minds that developed the theories of quantum mechanics.</p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_Heisenberg" target="_blank">Werner Heisenberg</a> (1901 - 1976) - a German theoretical physicist, who's achieved pop-culture fame by being the name of Walter White's alter ego in <em>Breaking Bad</em>. He is known for the Heiseinberg Uncertainty Principle and his 1932 Nobel Prize award flatly states it was for nothing less than "the creation of quantum mechanics".</p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erwin_Schr%C3%B6dinger" target="_blank">Erwin Schrödinger</a> (1887 - 1961) - an Austrian-Irish physicist who gave us the infamous "Schroedinger's Cat" thought experiment and other mind-benders from quantum mechanics. The Nobel-prize-winner's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger_equation" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Schrödinger equation</a> calculates the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_function" target="_blank">wave function</a> of a system and how it changes over time. </p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ0NDY3OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODMzNDgzN30.-PEYwz68ryekyo51biKAgbRKqsEviFrdPk2iixV_0KI/img.jpg?width=980" id="13774" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4d39501a6c01320632a3788eb4fccc1e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Erwin Schrödinger. 1933.
<p><span style="background-color: initial;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Dirac" target="_blank">Paul Dirac</a> (1902 - 1984) - another quantum mechanics giant, this English theoretical physicist shared the 1933 Nobel Prize with Erwin </span><span style="background-color: initial;">Schrödinger </span><span style="background-color: initial;">"for the discovery of new productive forms of atomic theory."</span></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niels_Bohr" target="_blank">Niels Bohr</a> (1885 - 1962) - a Danish physicist who made founder-level additions to what we know of atomic structure and quantum theory, which led to his 1922 Nobel Prize in Physics. </p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satyendra_Nath_Bose" target="_blank">Satyendra Nath Bose</a> (1894 - 1974) - an Indian mathematician and physicist, known for his quantum mechanics work. He collaborated with Einstein to develop the Bose-Einstein statistics and the theory of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bose%E2%80%93Einstein_condensate" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bose–Einstein condensate</a>. <em>Boson</em> particles are named after him.</p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ0NDY4Mi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMTc4MTMyNn0.tHuEhHnJOeqkVhmUCveERTjuLzWQ1wVfH__bNfocWYc/img.jpg?width=980" id="d5001" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2beeac054ddf6d789300cd25ed19cec9" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Satyendra Nath Bose. 1930s.
<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eugene_Wigner" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Eugene Wigner</a> (1902 - 1995) - a Hungarian-American theoretical physicist who received the 1963 Nobel Prize in Physics for work on the theory of the atomic nucleus and the elementary particles. Famously, he took part in the meeting with Leo Szilard and Albert Einstein that led to them writing a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein-Szilard_letter" target="_blank">letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt</a> which resulted in the creation of the Manhattan Project.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_de_Broglie" target="_blank">Louis de Broglie</a> (1892 - 1987) - a French theorist who made key contributions to quantum theory. He proposed the wave nature of electrons, suggesting that all matter has wave properties – an example of the concept of wave-particle duality, central to the theory of quantum mechanics. </p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Fermi" target="_blank">Enrico Fermi </a>(1901 - 1954) - an American physicist who's been called the "architect of the nuclear age" as well as the "architect of the Atomic bomb". He also created the world's first nuclear reactor and won the 1938 Nobel Prize in Physics for work on induced radioactivity and for discovering transuranium elements. </p>
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ0NDY4Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYyNjU5Nzg1NH0.2idHvEOr1t-jbfswJJJGUgyANYwLHwCWKWyMVDHYMDA/img.jpg?width=980" id="6aeb9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a8a421bdd02f230e32b4757be540359f" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Enrico Fermi. 1950s.
<p><span style="background-color: initial;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Pauli" target="_blank">Wolfgang Pauli (1900-1958) </a>- an Austrian theoretical theorist, known as one of the pioneers of quantum physics. He won the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering </span><span style="background-color: initial;">a new law of nature – the exclusion principle (aka the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauli_exclusion_principle" target="_blank">Pauli principle</a>) and developing spin theory.</span></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Planck" target="_blank">Max Planck</a> (1858-1947) - a German theoretical physicist who won the 1918 Nobel Prize in Physics for energy quanta. He was the originator of quantum theory, the physics of atomic and subatomic processes. </p>
Rank 2.5
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ0NDcwNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NDE1MDIxM30.Eg6tca61EredHxjqNH29HY3UeJbgBVa1nA13EhXTooU/img.jpg?width=980" id="90f86" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="0f1e6c5e13263a77b2061e1191fd8baf" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />Lev Landau. 1962.
<p><strong>Rank 2.5</strong> is where Landau initially ranked himself, rather modestly, thinking he didn't produce any foundational accomplishments. He later moved his prominence, as his achievement mounted, to the higher <strong>1.5.</strong></p>
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Photo: solarseven / Shutterstock
Mind & Brain
- Anxiety levels are increasing due to the pandemic and political uncertainty right now.
- Anxiety and depression cost the economy $50 billion in health care costs and lost work every year.
- These six books covers anxiety's physiology, environmental factors, and potential treatments.
<p>With just over a month until the next presidential election, November is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/november-may-be-the-darkest-month-americans-have-seen-in-a-long-time/2020/09/27/c60e72d8-fdaa-11ea-9ceb-061d646d9c67_story.html" target="_blank">predicted</a> to be a dark moment in American history. Numerous memes regarding the challenges of 2020 offer a cautious laugh, but it's not enough to stop rising rates of <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/mental-health-chief-says-there-is-no-doubt-people-will-suffer-coronavirus-ptsd" target="_blank">anxiety</a>; one <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Health/depression-rates-tripled-pandemic-study/story?id=72724832" target="_blank">study</a> found that depression rates have tripled during the pandemic as well.</p><p>Knowledge is power. While reading cannot combat unemployment or fix a broken health care system, books offer perspective. As frustrating as this moment is proving to be, humans have endured extreme challenges before. Understanding the mechanics of anxiety—its physiology, environmental factors, and methods for coping—is helpful under any circumstances. </p><p>Mental health issues hurt us individually, and collectively as well: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/My-Age-Anxiety-Dread-Search/dp/0307390608/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1499894009&sr=1-1&keywords=scott+stossel+my+age+of+anxiety" target="_blank">one study</a> found that Americans lose 321 million work days every year due to anxiety and depression, costing the economy $50 billion. We don't want to quantify every metric, yet that type of figure points to a serious problem. With a <a href="https://time.com/5876606/economic-depression-coronavirus/" target="_blank">potential depression</a> coming in 2021, we need to be prepared now. </p><p>Below are six books that address different facets of anxiety. They each offer important reminders that humans are resilient animals with the right training and mindset. Acquiring such knowledge is the first step in managing your anxiety. Perhaps, as some of these works suggest, you can even use it as fuel for transformation. </p>
You’re Wired for Anxiety. And You’re Wired to Handle It | Anne Marie Albano | Big Think
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="006926deaed2698d42ef27cba83f173a"><iframe type="lazy-iframe" data-runner-src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mUv37ttgQVE?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><h2>Anxious: Using the Brain to Understand and Treat Fear and Anxiety - Joseph Ledoux</h2><p>Neuroscientist Joseph Ledoux has written <em>the</em> go-to book for understanding everything about anxiety: how it arises in consciousness, its physiological manifestation, reshaping psychotherapy, environmental stressors—you name it. Ledoux argues that you must treat the outward symptoms <em>and</em> inner causes if you want to holistically address anxiety. He points out that uncertainty about the future (and how to prepare for it) is a common trigger for anxiety disorders, which puts 2020 into perspective. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Patients with panic disorder…have a hypersensitive suffocation alarm system, which falsely detects a dangerous level of CO2 and lead to hyperventilation, which in turn produces an actual rise in CO2 (due to short, fast inspiration). The resulting dizziness and light-headedness lead the person to misinterpret the physiological changes and worry and dread follow in the panic-stick person."</p><h2>The Upside of Stress: Why Stress is Good For You, and How to Get Good At It - Kelly McGonigal</h2><p>Health psychologist Kelly McGonigal flips the anxiety script on its head in this inspiring and motivational work on the advantages of stress. Anxiety is part of life—we've known that since Freud, and intuitively, long before (Kierkegaard had a few things to say as well). What if you can reframe that physiological energy and use it as a catalyst for action? McGonigal offers plenty of ways you can do just that. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"One of the effects of the biological stress response is to make you more open to your experience. You feel things more, and your ability to notice expands. You are more sensitive to other people and to your environment."</p><h2>My Age of Anxiety: Fear, Hope, Dread, and the Search for Peace of Mind - Scott Stossel</h2><p>Scott Stossel, a longtime editor of <em>The Atlantic</em>, has suffered from crippling anxiety for years. This half-memoir, half-exposé offers a compassionate gaze into the personal and societal complications of anxiety. Stossel investigates the many attempts at therapy, from the common to the outlandish. Most importantly, he offers real-world advice for controlling and managing symptoms. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;"> "Conscientious people who were highly neurotic tended to be more reflective, more goal oriented, more organized, and better at planning than average; they tended to be effective, 'high-functioning' workers—and to be better at taking care of their physical health than other workers."</p><img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNDQ0NDIzMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMjE4MzgzM30.18hC8BE2WS4TMDjNILnyAdtW-hLnqzhF2BmNyPSpjTU/img.jpg?width=980" id="1906c" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="86e75e5a3a1816c015da648ba80f43ee" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
<p class=""><br></p>Photo: Lightspring / Shutterstock
<h2>The Trauma of Everyday Life - Mark Epstein</h2><p>In this beautiful handbook for life, psychiatrist Mark Epstein puts Buddhism into action. He claims humans are all traumatized in some capacity, which creates lasting and often subconscious anxiety. Epstein uses the vast toolkit of Buddhist philosophy to reengineer trauma as a catalyst for transformation. The first step is not only striving for what is good and pleasant. You have to face trauma head-on. If you do, Epstein assures us, the world is yours. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"The key, taught the Buddha, lies in not taking trauma personally. When it is seen as a natural reflection of the chaotic universe of which we are a part, it loses its edge and can become a deeper object of mindfulness."</p><h2>How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain - Lisa Feldman Barrett</h2><p>We don't react to situations, writes psychology professor Lisa Feldman Barrett. Rather, we constantly create our reality. It only feels like reacting because of how deeply our patterns are imprinted. Fortunately, patterns are malleable. In this spellbinding book about the nature of emotions and human consciousness, Barrett leads the reader through the historical construction of emotions, assuring you that you don't need to be the victim of your mind. You are the author of your experiences. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"[Emotions] are not triggered; you create them. They emerge as a combination of the physical properties of your body, a flexible brain that wires itself to whatever environment it develops in, and your culture and upbringing, which provide that environment." </p><h2>Wayfinding: The Science and Mystery of How Humans Navigate the World - M.R. O'Connor</h2><p>There's something beautiful about getting lost. Not only does it make you notice your surroundings, it activates parts of your brain that remain silent when you default to using Waze for navigation. Science writer Maura O'Connor's exquisite book reminds us of what we've lost in an automated world and the anxiety this "ease" adds to our lives. Of course, she also offers solutions that keep you mentally engaged and emotionally healthy. </p><p style="margin-left: 20px;">"Mapping is an act of committing to memory the experience of bodily movement and reenacting it. It's a kind of performance, like telling a story."</p><p>--</p><p><em>Stay in touch with Derek on <a href="http://www.twitter.com/derekberes" target="_blank">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/DerekBeresdotcom" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://derekberes.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Substack</a>. His next book is</em> "<em>Hero's Dose: The Case For Psychedelics in Ritual and Therapy."</em></p>
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Live on Monday: Does the US need one billion people?
What would happen if you tripled the US population? Matthew Yglesias and moderator Charles Duhigg explore the idea on Big Think Live.
September 28, 2020
Big Think LIVE
Is immigration key to bolstering the American economy? Could having one billion Americans secure the US's position as the global superpower?
<p>
Is immigration key to bolstering the American economy? Could having one billion Americans secure the US's position as
<em>the</em> global superpower? What if massive population growth could nourish rural economies and strengthen our country from the inside out? Perhaps these questions are provocative fodder for more debate and contention but, for Matthew Yglesias, asking them and arguing about them is part of the American way. Join him in a conversation moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg as they explore the case for one billion Americans.</p><h2></h2><h2>STREAMING LINKS<br>
<a href="https://youtu.be/FKaApFbTpx4" target="_blank">YouTube</a> | <a href="https://www.facebook.com/BigThinkdotcom/posts/10157677011223527" target="_blank">Facebook</a> | <a href="https://edge.bigthink.com/live_streams/111" target="_blank">Big Think Edge</a></h2>
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