In this brief memoir, I shall try to describe academician Lev Davidovich Landau; his parents, Lyubov Veniaminovna Harkavi-Landau and David Lvovich Landau (my grandparents); his sister Sofia Davidovna Landau (my mother); and my association with him and our encounters in various periods of our lives.
My earliest memories of Dau (as Landau was known to those close to him) date back to 1937, when I was four years old. Into the quiet and calm of our home burst, unexpectedly, a strange kind of person. He brought an atmosphere of bustle, festivity, noisy and lengthy arguments, excitement, and shouting. Mom said that this was my Uncle Lyova [his familiar name], her brother, and that he had just arrived in Leningrad. He was very tall (especially from my four-year-old’s perspective), very thin, very disheveled, and very lively. He couldn’t stay in one spot for a second; he kept measuring our modest-sized room...
