Lev Davidovich Landau, known as the last of the "Universalists," was born on January 22, 1908, in Baku on the Caspian Sea. Now the capital of Azerbaijan, Landau's hometown was, at that time, part of the Soviet Union. His parents were educated and well-to-do Russians.

He demonstrated that he was advanced at an early age when he finished school at age 13. In 1922, he enrolled in the University of Baku in the faculties of maths and physics and of chemistry.

In 1924, Landau transferred to the University of Leningrad to enroll in its department of physics. While still an undergraduate, in 1926, Landau also became a supernumerary graduate student at Leningrad's Physicotechnical Institute. That same year, his first scientific paper, "On the Theory of the Spectra of Diatomic Molecules," was published to considerable interest.

Upon graduating from the university the following year, he joined the Physicotechnical Institute as a fully fledged graduate student...