In Memoriam Leonid V. Keldysh

Leonid V. Keldysh–one of the most influential theoretical physicists of the 20th century–passed away in November 2016. L. V. Keldysh is best known for the diagrammatic formulation of real-time (nonequilibrium) Green functions theory and for the theory of strong field ionization of atoms. Both theories profoundly changed large areas of theoretical physics and stimulated important experiments.

Both these discoveries emerged almost simultaneously–like Einstein, also L. V. Keldysh had his annus mirabilis – the year1964. But the list of his theoretical developments is much broader and is briefly reviewed here.