PHYSICISTS from Azerbaijan

Top 3

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Azerbaijani Physicists of all time. This list of famous Azerbaijani Physicists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Lev Landau (1908 - 1968)

With an HPI of 70.70, Lev Landau is the most famous Azerbaijani Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 87 different languages on wikipedia.

Lev Davidovich Landau (Russian: Лев Дави́дович Ланда́у; 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 made seminal contributions to all branches of physics. He is credited with laying the foundations of twentieth century condensed matter physics, and is also considered arguably the greatest Soviet theoretical physicist of the twentieth century. His accomplishments include the independent co-discovery of the density matrix method in quantum mechanics (alongside John von Neumann), the quantum mechanical theory of diamagnetism, the theory of superfluidity, the theory of second-order phase transitions, invention of order parameter technique, the Ginzburg–Landau theory of superconductivity, the theory of Fermi liquids, the explanation of Landau damping in plasma physics, the Landau pole in quantum electrodynamics, the two-component theory of neutrinos, and Landau's equations for S-matrix singularities. He received the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physics for his development of a mathematical theory of superfluidity that accounts for the properties of liquid helium II at a temperature below 2.17 K (−270.98 °C).

2. Abraham Alikhanov (1904 - 1970)

With an HPI of 51.41, Abraham Alikhanov is the 2nd most famous Azerbaijani Physicist.  Her biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Abram Isaakovich Alikhanov (ahl-eek-ahn-off; Russian: Абрам Исаакович Алиханов, né Alikhanian; 4 March [O.S. 20 February] 1904 – 8 December 1970) was a Soviet experimental physicist of Armenian origin who specialized in particle and nuclear physics. He was one of the Soviet Union's leading physicists. Before joining the Soviet atomic bomb project, Alikhanov studied X-rays and cosmic rays. Between 1945 and 1968, he directed the Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP) in Moscow, which was named after him in 2004. He led the development of both the first research and the first industrial heavy water reactors in the Soviet Union. They were commissioned in 1949 and 1951, respectively. He was also a pioneer in Soviet accelerator technology. In 1934 he and Igor Kurchatov created a "baby cyclotron", the first "cyclotron" operating outside of Berkeley, California. He was the driving force behind the construction of the 70 GeV synchrotron in Serpukhov (1967), the largest in the world at the time. His brother, Artem Alikhanian, was based in Soviet Armenia and led the Yerevan Physics Institute for many years.

3. Artem Alikhanian (1908 - 1978)

With an HPI of 51.32, Artem Alikhanian is the 3rd most famous Azerbaijani Physicist.  His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Artem Alikhanian (Russian: Артём Исаакович Алиханьян; Armenian: Արտեմ Ալիխանյան; 24 June 1908 – 25 February 1978) was a Soviet physicist of Armenian origin, one of the founders and first director of the Yerevan Physics Institute, a correspondent member of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union (1946), academic of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences. With Pyotr Kapitsa, Lev Landau, Igor Kurchatov, Abram Alikhanov and others, he laid the foundations of nuclear physics in the Soviet Union. He is known as the "father of Armenian physics".