The B.I. Verkin Institute for Low Temperature Physics and Engineering was founded in May, 1960. It was pioneered by Prof. B.I. Verkin, A.A. Galkin, B.N. Eselson, I.M. Dmitrenko. They all worked at the well-known Ukrainian Physico-Technical Institute (UPhTI). At the beginning of the 30-ies outstanding physicists L.D. Landau, I.Ya. Pomeranchuk, L.V. Shubnikov, I.V. Obreimov and others worked at the UPhTI. It is in this Institute where the first in the USSR laboratory for low temperature physics was established in those years.
Under the direct guidance of B.I. Verkin, director of the Institute, cryogenic school of active physicists-experimenters was formed at the Institute. The brilliant representatives of the school include Members of the NASU I.M. Dmitrenko, V.V. Eremenko, V.G. Manzhelii, I.K. Yanson, Corresponding Members of the NASU A.I. Zvyagin, N.F.Kharchenko. Their scientific contributions formed the present-day structure of the Institute and formulated the basic trends of its scientific activity, which embraces practically all subjects of low temperature physics. The greatest attention is paid to new fields: high-Tc superconductivity, weak superconductivity, magnetooptics of antiferromagnets, physics of low-dimension systems, point contact spectroscopy, quantum phenomena in plasticity, etc.
The Institute keeps up the traditions of the Kharkov school of theoretical physics initiated by L.D. Landau and I.M. Lifshits. This is best evidenced by the publications of Corresponding Members of the NASU A.M. Kosevich, I.O. Kulik and their younger colleagues.
On its formation the Institute included a group of mathematical departments, which in addition to classical mathematics, have been developing new trends. The subdivision is represented by the known names of A.V. Pogorelov, V.A. Marchenko, I.M. Glazman, B.Ya. Levin, A.D. Myshkis, L.A. Pastur, I.V. Ostrovsky, B.Ya. Khruslov, V.G. Drinfeld and so on.