Laboratory of Quantum Theory of Condensed Matter of the Institute of Metal Physics continues the tradition of the Laboratory of Solid State Theory, which was founded in 1974 by an outstanding Russian physicist, the pupil of Academician S. V. Vonsovskii – Professor (later Academician) Yu. A. Izyumov. His group was separated from the Laboratory of Magnetic Neutronography.

After that the laboratory has expanded due to coming of a number of new members, many of those becoming well known scientists. During 1980–90s the laboratory remained one of the leading theory groups in Ural.

Among its staff in different periods, there were such well known specialists as the founder of the Ural School of theoretical physics Academician S. V. Vonsovskii, Professors M. V. Medvedev, V. E. Naish, M. V. Sadovskii, Yu. N. Skryabin, V. Yu. Irkhin, F. A. Kassan-Ogly, M. I. Katsnelson and some other famous experts in the field of solid state theory.

In 1987 a number of the members of the staff, headed by Professor M. V. Sadovskii, has separated to form a new Laboratory of Theoretical Physics in the Institute of Electrophysics (Ural Branch of RAS).

In 1982, on the initiative and with the direct participation of Academician S. V. Vonsovskii, the group of quantum theory of metals (headed by M. I. Katsnelson) was organized in the Laboratory of Solid State Theory. Later this group was reorganized into the Laboratory of Quantum Theory of Metals in the Department of Mathematical and Theoretical Physics (until 2004).

Sergei Vasil'evich Vonsovskii	Yurii Aleksandrovich Izyumov	Michael Vissarionovich Sadovskii	Mikhail Iosifovich Katsnelson	Valentin Yuryevich Irkhin

The members of laboratory staff made significant contributions to such areas of modern condensed matter theory as

• theory of strongly correlated systems,
• theory of magnetism of transition and rare-earth metals and their compounds,
• magnetism of low-dimensional systems,
• theory of superconductivity,
• theory of metal–insulator transitions,
• theory of neutron scattering in condensed matter,
• symmetry analysis of phase transitions,
• theory of disordered systems,
• numerical methods of solid state theory.

These areas of research essentially remain as the basic interests of the laboratory stuff.

In 2011, the laboratory of quantum condensed matter theory was revived under the leadership of M. V. Sadovskii.

Since 2014 Academician M. V. Sadovskii is the Scientific leader (supervisor) of the Department of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics IMP UB RAS.

At present the head of the Laboratory of Quantum Theory of Condensed Matter is Dr. Sci. V. Yu. Irkhin.