During the 1980s the Landau Institute, a renowned centre in theoretical physics, had the highest citation index among all Soviet scientific organizations. These selected papers of the Landau Institute reflect the developments in the exact sciences since the Institute's foundation in the 1960s.

The Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics was created in 1965 by a group of L.D. Landau's pupils. Very soon, it was widely recognized as one of the world's leading centres in theoretical physics. According to "Science Magazine", the Institute in the 1980s had the highest citation index among all the scientific organizations in the former Soviet Union. These selected papers of the Institute reflect the development of the many directions in the exact sciences since the 1960s. The reader can find the original formulations of well-known notions in condensed matter theory, quantum field theory, mathematical physics and astrophysics, which were introduced by members of the Landau Institute. The following are some of the achievements described in this book: monopoles (A. Polyakov), instantons (A. Belavin et al), weak crystallization (S. Brazovskii), spin superfluidity (I. Fomin), finite band potentials (S. Novikov) and paraconductivity (A. Larkin, L. Aslamasov).

Part 1 Condensed matter: phase transition in uniaxial ferroelectrics, A.I. Larkin and D.E. Khmel'nitskii
contribution to the theory of domian structures, I.A. Privorotskii
correlation functions of a one-dimensional fermi system, I.E. Dzyaloshinskii and A.I. Larkin
investigation of singularities in superfluid He-3 and in liquid crystals by the homotopic topology methods, G.E. Volovik and V.P. Mineev
towards an exact solution of the Anderson model, P.B. Wiegmann
long-wavelength dynamics free-standing smectic films, E.I. Kats and V.V. Lebedev
the augmented models of associative memory asymmetric interaction and hierarchy of patterns, M.V. Feigelman and L.B. Ioffe
superconductivity transition temperature in amorphous films, A.M. Finkel'stein. Part 2 Mathematical physics: a scheme for integration of the nonlinear equations of mathematical physics by the method of the inverse scattering problem, V.E. Zakharov and A.B. Shabat
note on the integration of Euler's equations of the dynamics of n-dimensional rigid body, S.V. Manakov
extension of the module of invertible transformations, A.V. Mikhailov et al. Part 3 Field theory and nuclear physics: particle spectrum in quantum field theory, A.M. Polyakov
pseudo-particle solitons of the Yang-Mills equations, A.A. Belavin et al
infinite conformal symmetry in two-dimensional quantum field theory, A.B. Zamolodchikov
conformal algebra and multipoint correlation functions in 2d statistical models, V. Dotsenko and V. Fateev
Higgs and top quark masses in the standard model without elementary Higgs boson, V.N. Gribov. Part 4 Astrophysics: spectrum of relict gravitational radiation and the early state of the universe, A.A. Starobinskii. (Part Contents).