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His students were successful enough that nine of them have their own articles on English Wikipedia. Many more (>20) have articles on Russian Wikipedia. Amongst
by MontyCarloHall 3y ago
His students were successful enough that nine of them have their own articles on English Wikipedia. Many more (>20) have articles on Russian Wikipedia.
Amongst the nine students who have English Wikipedia articles, one won a Nobel [0]. The others have all won highly prestigious physics prizes, and all appear to be major contributors to their subfields. One even has a class of subatomic particles named after him [1].
Was Landau's pedagogical approach optimal? Impossible to say. Was it extremely successful? Objectively, yes, without a doubt.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Abrikosov_(physicist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Abrikosov_(physicist)
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomeron https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomeron
- Panoramix 3y agoIs that not just selection bias? Makes sense that the most gifted students at the most prestigious school over a span of 30 years went on to have great careers.
- MontyCarloHall 3y agoOP was questioning whether Landau’s method of identifying the most gifted students actually selected for successful physicists: “It makes me wonder of the 43 students who passed, how many achieved significant breakthroughs or Nobel prizes?” So yes, it is selection bias by definition, but the point is that the method of selection worked. Most other professors at the most prestigious schools in the world could only dream of advising anything close to Landau’s academic descendants.
- lr1970 3y agoTo complete the analysis we should look at the achievements of those who failed the Theoretical Minimum.
- jojobas 3y agoWell how many Nobel prize winners did Feynmann bring up?
- mif 3y agoArnold Sommerfeld was supposedly a great educator and a likeable teacher. From Wikipedia: “ He invited collaboration from them, and their ideas often influenced his own views in physics. He entertained them in his home and met with them in cafes before and after seminars and colloquia. Sommerfeld owned an alpine ski hut to which students were often invited for discussions of physics as demanding as the sport.” [1] Four of his doctoral and three of his post-doctoral students went on to become Nobel prize winners. That’s a lot of Nobel prize winners. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Sommerfeld https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Sommerfeld
- defrost 3y agoThe important question here is how many went on to become gold medal winter olympians.