Evgeny Lifshitz

Evgeny Mikhailovich Lifshitz[1] ForMemRS[2] (Russian: Евге́ний Миха́йлович Ли́фшиц; February 21, 1915, Kharkov, Russian Empire – October 29, 1985, Moscow, Russian SFSR) was a leading Soviet physicist and the brother of physicist Ilya Mikhailovich Lifshitz.

Work

Lifshitz is well known in the field of general relativity for coauthoring the BKL conjecture concerning the nature of a generic curvature singularity. As of 2006, this is widely regarded as one of the most important open problems in the subject of classical gravitation.[3]

With Lev Landau, Lifshitz co-authored Course of Theoretical Physics, an ambitious series of physics textbooks, in which the two aimed to provide a graduate-level introduction to the entire field of physics. These books are still considered invaluable and continue to be widely used.

Lifshitz was the second of only 43 people ever to pass Landau's "Theoretical Minimum" examination. He made many invaluable contributions, in particular to quantum electrodynamics, where he calculated the Casimir force in an arbitrary macroscopic configuration of metals and dielectrics.

A special multicritical point, the Lifshitz point, carries, since 1975, his name.
Bibliography

Belinskii, V. A.; Khalatnikov, I. M.; Lifshttz, E. M. (1970). "Oscillatory approach to a singular point in the relativistic cosmology". Advances in Physics. 19 (80): 525. Bibcode:1970AdPhy..19..525B. doi:10.1080/00018737000101171. The paper introducing the BKL conjecture.
Landau, L. D.; Lifschitz, E. M. (1976). Mechanics. Course of Theoretical Physics. Vol. 1 (3rd ed.). London: Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-021022-8.
Landau, L. D.; Lifschitz, E. M. (1971). Classical Theory of Fields. Course of Theoretical Physics. Vol. 2 (3rd ed.). London: Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-016019-0.
Landau, L. D.; Lifschitz, E. M.; (1977). Quantum Mechanics: Non-relativistic Theory. Course of Theoretical Physics. Vol. 3 (3rd ed.). London: Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-020940-8.
Berestetskii, V. B.; Lifschitz, E. M.; Pitaevskii, L. P. (1982). Quantum Electrodynamics. Course of Theoretical Physics. Vol. 4 (2nd ed.). London: Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-026503-0.
Lifschitz, E. M.; Pitaevskii, L. P. (1981). Physical Kinetics. Course of Theoretical Physics. Vol. 10 (1st ed.). Oxford: Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-026480-8.