Translated by D. H. McNeill
Ilya Mikhailovich Lifshitz rightly belongs among the outstanding physicists of the twentieth century. He made an enormous contribution to the development of the theory of condensed matter and created a large school of theoretical physicists in Kharkov and later in Moscow. His ideas were the starting points for many areas of research that are still being developed.
Ilya Mikhailovich was born in Kharkov on January 13, 1917. His father Mikhail Ilich Lifshitz was trained in medicine in Heidelberg. By the time his son was born, Professor Lifshitz was a well-known doctor in Kharkov. His mother, Berta Evzorovna, was an educated woman who completed gymnasium and then obtained a degree in the Law Faculty of Kharkov University.
Ilya Mikhailovich and his older brother, Evgenii Mikhailovich, received a good education at home. They were taught three foreign languages and to play the piano. EM was an enthusiastic...
