Timeline of states of matter and phase transitions

This is a timeline of states of matter and phase transitions, specifically discoveries related to either of these topics.

Timeline

= Antiquity =

c. 450 BC – Empedocles introduces the four classical element (earth, water, air, fire).{{Cite book |last=Russell |first=Bertrand |title=History of western philosophy: and its connection with political and social circumstances from the earliest times to the present day |date=1993 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-07854-2 |location=London}}
c. 340 BC – Aristotle in his work Meteorology, expand on the classical elements and describes the water cycle. His cycle includes evaporation of water, formation of clouds, snow and rain.{{Cite book |last=Möller |first=Detlev |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/History_Change_and_Sustainability/cznYDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=history+of+the+water+cycle+aristotle&pg=PT74&printsec=frontcover |title=History, Change and Sustainability |date=2020-03-09 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-055996-5 |language=en}}
c. 77 AD – Pliny the Elder in his Natural History, concludes that clouds are formed by the condensation of air.
c. 439 AD – Proclus in his Commentary on Plato's Timaeus, categorizes the four elements using three binary qualities sharp/blunt, subtle/dense and mobile/inmobile.{{Cite book |last=Kaylor |first=Noel Harold |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/A_Companion_to_Boethius_in_the_Middle_Ag/B_secKlFKB0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=proclus+elements+subtle+sharp&pg=PA63&printsec=frontcover |title=A Companion to Boethius in the Middle Ages |last2=Phillips |first2=Philip Edward |date=2012-05-03 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-18354-4 |language=en}}

= Before 18th century =

7th century – Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber) proposes four primary qualities: hotness, coldness, dryness, moistness. The classical elements can hold only two of these qualities. Metals internal qualities are different from their external qualities.{{Cite book |last=Guiley |first=Rosemary |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/The_Encyclopedia_of_Magic_and_Alchemy/fkc10_zCBv0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=moistness+geber+fire+air&pg=PA149&printsec=frontcover |title=The Encyclopedia of Magic and Alchemy |date=2006 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=978-1-4381-3000-2 |language=en}}
1260 – First detailed description of snowflakes by Albertus Magnus.{{Cite book |last=Wang |first=Pao K. |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Ice_Microdynamics/U2rIczt5hFwC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Albertus+Magnus++snow.&pg=PA3&printsec=frontcover |title=Ice Microdynamics |date=2002-09-06 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-0-08-050844-3 |language=en}}
1471 – Alchemist George Ripley describes 12 main alchemical processes including congelation and sublimation.{{Cite book |last=Linden |first=Stanton J. |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/The_Alchemy_Reader/isJY9jWdru0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=ripley+12+alchemical+processes&pg=PA17&printsec=frontcover |title=The Alchemy Reader: From Hermes Trismegistus to Isaac Newton |date=2003-08-28 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-79662-0 |language=en}}
1530 – Alchemist Paracelsus proposes his theory of tria prima were primary elements being: a combustible element (sulfur), a liquid changeable element (mercury) and solid element (salt).{{Cite web |title=Alchemy, the Four Elements, and the Tria Prima {{!}} cabinet |url=https://www.cabinet.ox.ac.uk/alchemy-four-elements-and-tria-prima |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=www.cabinet.ox.ac.uk}}

1637. – René Descartes rejects the hypothesis that water vapor is the same as air.
1648 – Jan Baptist van Helmont coins the term gas.{{Cite book |last=Lærke |first=Mogens |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Steno_and_the_Philosophers/entTDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=1648+coining+gas&pg=PA179&printsec=frontcover |title=Steno and the Philosophers |last2=Andrault |first2=Raphaele |date=2018-01-29 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-36065-5 |language=en}}
c. 1660 – Otto von Guericke carries experiment to demonstrate the artificial formation of fog.
1669 – Johann Joachim Becher, influenced by Paracelsus, proposes a model in his Physica subterranea, where all matter is composed of the elements air, water and three earths: terra lapidea (vitrieous earth) related to its fusibility, terra fluida (mercurial earth) contributing to fluidity and volatility, and terra pinguis (fatty earth) related to combustibility and flammability.{{Cite book |last=Evangelisti |first=Florestano |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/The_Concept_of_Matter/xqHLEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=terra+pinguis+becher&pg=PA46&printsec=frontcover |title=The Concept of Matter: A Journey from Antiquity to Quantum Physics |date=2023-07-15 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-031-36558-4 |language=en}}

= 18th century =

1724 – Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit discovers supercooling, while developing the Fahrenheit scale.{{Cite web |title=Experimental explanation of supercooling : why water does not freeze in the clouds |url=https://www.esrf.fr/news/general-old/general-2010/supercooling |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=www.esrf.fr |language=en}}
1730 – René Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur develops the Réaumur scale, calibrated between the freezing point (0°R) and the boiling point of water (80°R).{{Cite web |title=Réaumur temperature scale {{!}} Celsius, Fahrenheit & Kelvin {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/science/Reaumur-temperature-scale |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}
1742 – Anders Celsius develops the Celsius scale, calibrated where its 0°C are defined at the freezing point of water and 100°C at the boiling point of water.{{Cite web |date=2025-03-01 |title=Celsius {{!}} Definition, Conversion to Fahrenheit, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/technology/Celsius-temperature-scale |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}
1751 – Charles Le Roy describes clouds as suspension of water.
1756 – William Cullen provides the first demonstration of artificial refrigeration.{{Cite web |title=THE WARING PORTRAIT COLLECTION CONSERVATION PROGRAM |url=https://waring.library.musc.edu/portraits/Cullen.php |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=waring.library.musc.edu}}
1762 – Joseph Black discovers latent heat.{{Cite web |title=This Month in Physics History |url=https://www.aps.org/archives/publications/apsnews/201204/physicshistory.cfm |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=www.aps.org |language=en}}
1780 – Antoine Lavoisier postulates three states of matter: solids, liquids and vapors.{{Cite journal |last=Berche |first=Bertrand |last2=Henkel |first2=Malte |last3=Kenna |first3=Ralph |date=2009 |title=Fenômenos críticos: 150 anos desde Cagniard de la Tour |url=https://www.scielo.br/j/rbef/a/4RvVnxxHBxsHZ3Tq5Kgmgsg/?lang=pt |journal=Revista Brasileira de Ensino de Física |language=pt |volume=31 |pages=2602.1–2602.4 |doi=10.1590/S1806-11172009000200015 |issn=1806-1117|arxiv=0905.1886 }}{{Cite journal |last=Goudaroulis |first=Yorgos |date=1994 |title=Searching for a name: the development of the concept of the critical point (1822-1869)/A la recherche d'un nom : le développement du concept de point critique (1822-1869) |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhs_0151-4105_1994_num_47_3_1210 |journal=Revue d'histoire des sciences |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=353–380 |doi=10.3406/rhs.1994.1210}}
1784 – Liquefaction of sulfur dioxide by compression and cooling by Jean-François Clouet and Gaspard Monge.

= 19th century =

1822 – Charles Cagniard de la Tour discovers the critical point (called de la Tour point at the time). His experiments with sealed cannons mark the discovery of supercritical fluids.
1823 – Systematic studies of the liquefaction of gases by Michael Faraday. He removes the distinction between vapour an gas.
1824 – Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot publishes Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire, introducing the earliest version of Clausius–Clapeyron relation which characterizes the transition between two phases of matter.{{Cite book |last=Hutter |first=Kolumban |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Fluid_and_Thermodynamics/ngpkDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=sadi+carnot+clausius+clapeyron+phase+transition&pg=PA413&printsec=frontcover |title=Fluid and Thermodynamics: Volume 1: Basic Fluid Mechanics |last2=Wang |first2=Yongqi |date=2016-06-10 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-319-33633-6 |language=en}}
1834 – Émile Clapeyron works out his version of the Clausius–Clapeyron relation.
1850 – Rudolf Clausius reformulates the Clausius–Clayperon relation.{{Cite book |last=Müller |first=Ingo |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/A_History_of_Thermodynamics/u13KiGlz2zcC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=clausius+clapeyron+1834&pg=PA56&printsec=frontcover |title=A History of Thermodynamics: The Doctrine of Energy and Entropy |date=2007-07-16 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-540-46227-9 |language=en}}
1861 – Dmitri Mendeleev establishes the critical temperature, he calls de la Tour point, the absolute boiling point.
1869 – Thomas Andrews studies of liquefaction of gases. He standardizes and coins the term critical point, critical temperature and critical pressure.{{cite EB1911 |wstitle= Andrews, Thomas |volume= 1 |page= 974 |short=1}} He also discovers critical opalescence.{{Cite web |last=Golfinopoulos |first=Theodore |date=2008 |title=Slide 18: A little history... |url=https://web.mit.edu/8.334/www/grades/projects/projects08/TheodoreGolfinopoulos/text11.html |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=MIT Edu}}
1868 – Dmitry Chernov introduces the critical points of steel.{{Cite book |last=Schastlivtsev |first=Vadim M. |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Physical_Metallurgy/sutcEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=history+of+physical+metallurgy+austen&pg=PA2&printsec=frontcover |title=Physical Metallurgy: Metals, Alloys, Phase Transformations |last2=Zel'dovich |first2=Vitaly I. |date=2022-02-07 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-075802-3 |language=en}}
1873 – James Thomson coins the term triple point of water.{{Cite book |last=Liptak |first=Bela G. |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Instrument_and_Automation_Engineers_Hand/CKR9EAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=james+thomson+1873+triple+point+of+water&pg=PA1213&printsec=frontcover |title=Instrument and Automation Engineers' Handbook: Process Measurement and Analysis, Fifth Edition - Two Volume Set |last2=Venczel |first2=Kriszta |date=2022-08-31 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-000-82062-1 |language=en}}
1873 –Johannes Diderik van der Waals thesis. He explains that water-vapour transition by introducing van der Waals equation and the van der Waals force.{{Cite journal |last=Calado |first=J. C. G. |last2=Lopes |first2=J. N. Canongia |date=1999-07-30 |title=The building-up of phase diagrams |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1351/pac199971071183/html |journal=Pure and Applied Chemistry |language=en |volume=71 |issue=7 |pages=1183–1196 |doi=10.1351/pac199971071183 |issn=1365-3075}}
1875 –James Clerk Maxwell introduces his Maxwell construction for state transitions.{{Cite book |last=Lavis |first=David A. |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Equilibrium_Statistical_Mechanics_of_Lat/Q150BgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=equal+area+rule+maxwell+1875&pg=PA171&printsec=frontcover |title=Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics of Lattice Models |date=2015-01-31 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-017-9430-5 |language=en}}
1875-1876 – Josiah Willard Gibbs introduces the concept of "phase". See also his phase rule published in "On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances" paper.
1879 {{endash}} William Crookes first identifies plasma in laboratory{{cite web

|url=http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/5dcb9349d366f8ec.html

|title=Find in a Library: On radiant matter a lecture delivered to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, at Sheffield

|type=lecture |place=Sheffield, England

|oclc=5210512 |date=22 August 1879 |access-date=24 May 2006

|url-status=live

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060709162459/http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/5dcb9349d366f8ec.html

|archive-date=9 July 2006 |df=dmy-all }}

1881 – John Aitken demonstrate that in fog, water condenses on particles in air. He also establishes the dew point.
1888–1889 – Crystalline optical properties of liquid crystals and their ability to flow are first described by Friedrich Reinitzer and confirmed by Otto Lehmann.{{Cite journal |last=Mitov |first=Michel |date=2014 |title=Liquid-Crystal Science from 1888 to 1922: Building a Revolution |url=https://chemistry-europe.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cphc.201301064 |journal=ChemPhysChem |language=en |volume=15 |issue=7 |pages=1245–1250 |doi=10.1002/cphc.201301064 |issn=1439-7641}}
1887 – Floris Osmond introduces the different names for the phases of steel.
1895 – Pierre Curie discovers that induced magnetization is proportional to magnetic field strength

{{cite thesis |first1=Pierre |last1=Curie |date=1895 |publication-date=1895 |degree=[Presented to FACULTÉ DES SCIENCES DE PARIS] PhD |publisher=Gauthier-Villars et fils

|location=Paris, France

|title=Propriétés magnétiques des corps à diverses températures

|trans-title=Magnetic properties of bodies at various temperatures

|url=https://books.google.com/books? |lang=french |id= |access-date=2 Sep 2024}}

= 20th century =

1900 – Gustav Heinrich Tammann discovers the phases of ice: ice II and ice III.{{Cite book |last=Petrenko |first=Victor F. |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Physics_of_Ice/oC941a8lXWIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=bridgman+1912+ice+phases&pg=PA252&printsec=frontcover |title=Physics of Ice |last2=Whitworth |first2=Robert W. |date=1999-08-19 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-158134-2 |language=en}}
1911 – Heike Kamerlingh Onnes discloses his research on superconductivity{{cite magazine |magazine=Physics Today

|url=https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/63/9/38/386608/The-discovery-of-superconductivityA-century-ago

|title=The discovery of superconductivity

|volume=63 |issue=9 |pages=38–43 |publisher=AIP Publishing LLC

|doi=10.1063/1.3490499

|first1=Dirk |last1=van Delft |first2=Peter |last2=Kes

|date=1 September 2010 |access-date=30 Aug 2024}}

1908 – Marian Smoluchowski explains critical opalescence with fluctuations of density.
1912 – Peter Debye derives the {{Math|T³}} law for the low temperature heat capacity of a nonmetallic solid

{{cite journal |journal=Annalen der Physik

|title=Zur Theorie der spezifischen Wärmen

|year=1912 |first1=Peter |last1=Debye

|doi=10.1002/andp.19123441404 |lang=German |volume=39

|issue=4 |pages=789{{endash}}839

|bibcode=1912AnP...344..789D |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1424256}}

1912 – Percy Williams Bridgman, systematic study of the phases of ice. He find ice VI, V and VI.
1919 – Gustav Heinrich Tammann predicts an order-disorder transition in metal alloys at low temperature.{{Cite book |last=Papon |first=Pierre |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/The_Physics_of_Phase_Transitions/n-fiyYg3iSIC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=history+of+phase+transitions&pg=PA32&printsec=frontcover |title=The Physics of Phase Transitions: Concepts and Applications |last2=Leblond |first2=Jacques |last3=Meijer |first3=Paul H. E. |date=2007-07-27 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3-540-33390-6 |language=en}}
1924{{endash}}1925 {{endash}} Bose–Einstein condensate was first predicted, generally, by Albert Einstein{{cite journal |last1=Einstein |first1=Albert |date=10 July 1924 |title=Quantentheorie des einatomigen idealen Gases |lang=de |url=https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/physik_ap/demokritov/mbecfornonphysicists/einstein_1924_1925.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Königliche Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften. Sitzungsberichte |pages=261–267 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.uni-muenster.de/imperia/md/content/physik_ap/demokritov/mbecfornonphysicists/einstein_1924_1925.pdf |archive-date=9 Oct 2022}}
1925 – Ernst Ising presents the solution to the one-dimensional Ising model

{{cite thesis |first=Ernst |last=Ising |date=9 December 1924 |publication-date=1925 |journal=Zeitschrift für Physik |degree=PhD |pages=253–258 |volume=31

|location=Hamburg, Germany |title=Beitrag zur Theorie des Ferromagnetismus

|trans-title=Contribution to the Theory of Ferromagnetism}}

1928 – Felix Bloch applies quantum mechanics to electrons in crystal lattices, establishing the quantum theory of solids{{cite thesis |degree=PhD |trans-title=On the quantum mechanics of electrons in crystal lattices |title=Über die Quantenmechanik der Elektronen in Kristallgittern |first=Felix |last=Bloch |institution=Universität Leipzig |lang=german |publication-date=1928 |oclc=43394732}}
1929 – Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac {{citation required|date=August 2024}} and Werner Karl Heisenberg develop the quantum theory of ferromagnetism{{cite journal |journal=Zeitschrift für Physik (Journal of Physics) |lang=german

|publication-date=September 1928 |doi=10.1007/BF01328601|bibcode=1928ZPhy...49..619H

}}

1932 – Louis Eugène Félix Néel discovers antiferromagnetism

{{cite journal |journal=Annales de Physique |volume=10 |number=18 |pages=5–105 |doi=10.1051/anphys/193210180005

|author=Louis Néel |lang=French

|title=Influence des fluctuations du champ moléculaire sur les propriétés magnétiques des corps

|date=1932 |bibcode=1932AnPh...10....5N |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-02888373/file/anphys19321018p5.pdf |trans-title=Influence of molecular field fluctuations on the magnetic properties of bodies

}}

1933 – Paul Ehrenfest classifies the general types of phases transitions.{{Cite journal |last=Jaeger |first=Gregg |date=1998-05-01 |title=The Ehrenfest Classification of Phase Transitions: Introduction and Evolution |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s004070050021 |journal=Archive for History of Exact Sciences |language=en |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=51–81 |doi=10.1007/s004070050021 |issn=1432-0657|url-access=subscription }}
1933 – Walther Meissner and Robert Ochsenfeld discover perfect superconducting diamagnetism

{{cite journal |journal=Naturwissenschaften |first1=Walther |last1=Meissner |first2=Robert |last2=Ochsenfeld

|publication-date=November 1933

|volume=21 |pages=787–788 |doi=10.1007/BF01504252

|title=Ein neuer Effekt bei Eintritt der Supraleitfähigkeit

|issue=44 |bibcode=1933NW.....21..787M |trans-title=A new effect when superconductivity occurs}}

1933 – Walter Baade and Fritz Zwicky propose the existence of neutron stars, made of neutronium.{{Cite journal |last=Baade |first=W. |last2=Zwicky |first2=F. |date=1934-07-01 |title=Remarks on Super-Novae and Cosmic Rays |url=https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.46.76.2 |journal=Physical Review |volume=46 |issue=1 |pages=76–77 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.46.76.2|url-access=subscription }}
1933–1937 – Lev Landau develops the Landau theory of phase transitions{{cite journal|title=On the Theory of Phase Transitions|url=http://www.ujp.bitp.kiev.ua/files/journals/53/si/53SI08p.pdf|author=Lev D. Landau|journal=Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz.|volume=7|page=19-32|year=1937|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151214124950/http://www.ujp.bitp.kiev.ua/files/journals/53/si/53SI08p.pdf|archive-date=14 Dec 2015}}
1935 – Lev Shubnikov discovers type-II superconductivity.{{Cite web |last=cern |date=2011-10-25 |title=The discovery of type II superconductors |url=https://cerncourier.com/a/the-discovery-of-type-ii-superconductors/ |access-date=2025-03-27 |website=CERN Courier |language=en-US}}
1936 – Ukichiro Nakaya makes extensive studies of snow formation. He creates the first artificial snowflakes.{{Cite book |last=Ćurić |first=Mladjen |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/History_of_Meteorology/hgDmEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Ukichiro+Nakaya+history+snow&pg=PA304&printsec=frontcover |title=History of Meteorology |last2=Spiridonov |first2=Vlado |date=2023-12-29 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-031-45032-7 |language=en}}
1937 – Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa and John Frank Allen/Don Misener discover superfluidity{{cite journal|last1=Kapitza|first1=P.|date=1938|title=Viscosity of Liquid Helium Below the λ-Point|journal=Nature|volume=141|issue=3558|page=74|bibcode=1938Natur.141...74K|doi=10.1038/141074a0|s2cid=3997900|doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|last1=Allen|first1=J. F.|last2=Misener|first2=A. D.|date=1938|title=Flow of Liquid Helium II|journal=Nature|volume=142|issue=3597|page=643|bibcode=1938Natur.142..643A|doi=10.1038/142643a0|s2cid=4135906}}
1937 – Jan Hendrik de Boer and Evert Verwey, and independently Nevill Mott develop the theory of metal–insulator transition and Mott transition.{{Cite journal |last=Edwards |first=P. P. |last2=Johnston |first2=R. L. |last3=Rao |first3=C. N. R. |last4=Tunstall |first4=D. P. |last5=Hensel |first5=F. |date=1998 |title=The Metal-Insulator Transition: A Perspective |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/54951?seq=1 |journal=Philosophical Transactions: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |volume=356 |issue=1735 |pages=5–22 |issn=1364-503X}}
1941 – Landau explains superfluidity

{{cite journal |journal= Physical Review|volume=60

|first=Lev D. |last=Landau |pages=356–358

|title=Theory of the Superfluidity of Helium II

|issue=4 |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.60.356

|bibcode=1941PhRv...60..356L

|publication-date=15 August 1941}}{{cite journal |journal=Journal of Physics USSR

|title=On the theory of superfluidity of helium II

|first=Lev D. |last=Landau

|volume=5 |pages=71–77 |publication-date=1941}}

1942 – Hannes Alfvén predicts magnetohydrodynamic waves in plasmas

{{cite journal |journal=Nature |publication-date=1 October 1942

|volume=150 |pages=405–406 |doi=10.1038/150405d0

|title=Existence of Electromagnetic-Hydrodynamic Waves

|first=Hannes |last=ALFVÉN|issue=3805

|bibcode=1942Natur.150..405A

}}

1944 – Lars Onsager publishes the exact solution to the two-dimensional Ising model{{citation |journal=Physical Review |doi=10.1103/PhysRev.65.117

|pages=117–149|bibcode=1944PhRv...65..117O

}}

1950 – Landau and Vitaly Ginzburg develop Ginzburg–Landau theory
1957 – John Bardeen, Leon Cooper, and Robert Schrieffer develop the BCS theory of superconductivity{{cite journal|last=Bardeen|first=J.|author2=Cooper, L. N.|author3=Schrieffer, J. R.|title=Microscopic Theory of Superconductivity|journal=Physical Review|date=April 1957|volume=106|issue=1|pages=162–164|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.106.162|bibcode = 1957PhRv..106..162B |doi-access=free}}{{cite journal|last=Bardeen|first=J.|author2=Cooper, L. N. |author3=Schrieffer, J. R. |title=Theory of Superconductivity|journal=Physical Review|date=December 1957|volume=108|issue=5|pages=1175–1204|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.108.1175|bibcode = 1957PhRv..108.1175B |doi-access=free}}
1957 – Landau develops the theory of Fermi liquid{{cite journal |journal=Soviet Physics JETP |volume=3 |number=6 |translator-first=H. |translator-last=Kruglak

|first=Lev D. |last=Landau |title=The theory of the Fermi liquid |publication-date=Jan 1957 |page=920 |id=Original: € Zh. Eksp. Teor. Fiz., J. Exptl. Theoret. Phys. (U.S.S.R.) Vol. 30, 1956, pp. 1058-1064}}

1959 – Philip Warren Anderson predicts localization in disordered systems{{cite journal |journal=Physical Review |publication-date=1 March 1958 |volume=109 |issue=5 |first=Philip Warren |last=Anderson

|title=Absence of Diffusion in Certain Random Lattices

|doi=10.1103/PhysRev.109.1492 |page=1492 |date=10 October 1957}}

1972 – Douglas Osheroff, Robert C. Richardson, and David M. Lee discover that helium-3 can become a superfluid{{cite journal

|journal=Physical Review Letters |date=10 February 1972

|title=Evidence for a New Phase of Solid He3

|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.28.885 |volume=28 |pages=885–888

|issue=14 |publication-date= 3 April 1972}}

1974 – Kenneth G. Wilson develops the renormalization group technique for treating phase transitions

{{cite journal |journal=Physica |volume=73 |issue=1

|title=Critical phenomena in 3.99 dimensions

|doi=10.1016/0031-8914(74)90229-8

|publication-date=1 April 1974 |pages=119–128

|first= Kenneth G. |last=Wilson|bibcode=1974Phy....73..119W }}

1980 – Klaus von Klitzing discovers the quantum Hall effect

{{cite journal |journal=Reviews of Modern Physics |title=The quantized Hall effect |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=519–531 |publication-date=1 July 1986 |first=von Klitzing |last=Klaus

|doi=10.1103/RevModPhys.58.519

|publisher=American Physical Society

|bibcode=1986RvMP...58..519V |url=https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/RevModPhys.58.519

|url-access=subscription }}

1982 – Horst L. Störmer and Daniel C. Tsui discover the fractional quantum Hall effect{{cite web

|title=Press Release: The Nobel Prize in Physics 1998

|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/1998/press-release/

|publisher=The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

|website=nobelprize.org |date=13 October 1998 |access-date=2 Sep 2024}}

1983 – Robert B. Laughlin explains the fractional quantum Hall effect
1986 – Karl Alexander Müller and Georg Bednorz discover high-temperature superconductivity

{{cite journal

|journal=Zeitschrift für Physik B Condensed Matter

|first1=J. G. |last1=Bednorz|last2=Müller |first2=K. A.

|publication-date=1 June 1986 |volume=64 |pages=189–193

|title=Possible highT c superconductivity in the Ba−La−Cu−O system

|issue=2 |doi=10.1007/BF01303701}}

1995 – Eric Cornell and Carl Wieman produce the first Bose–Einstein condensate using rubidium atoms{{Cite journal |last1=Anderson |first1=M. H. |last2=Ensher |first2=J. R. |last3=Matthews |first3=M. R. |last4=Wieman |first4=C. E. |last5=Cornell |first5=E. A. |date=1995-07-14 |title=Observation of Bose-Einstein Condensation in a Dilute Atomic Vapor |journal=Science |language=en |volume=269 |issue=5221 |pages=198–201 |doi=10.1126/science.269.5221.198 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=17789847 |bibcode=1995Sci...269..198A |doi-access=free}}
1997 – Steven T. Bramwell and Mark J. Harris team find a compound that behaves as spin ice at low temperatures.{{Cite book |last=Udagawa |first=Masafumi |url=https://www.google.fr/books/edition/Spin_Ice/LXBJEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=1997+spin+ice+discovery&pg=PR5&printsec=frontcover |title=Spin Ice |last2=Jaubert |first2=Ludovic |date=2021-10-19 |publisher=Springer Nature |isbn=978-3-030-70860-3 |language=en}}

= 21st century =

2000 – CERN announced quark-gluon plasma, a new phase of matter.{{Cite web|title=New State of Matter created at CERN|url=https://home.cern/news/press-release/cern/new-state-matter-created-cern|website=CERN|language=en|access-date=22 May 2020}}
2024 –Altermagnetism is discovered.{{Cite web |title=Altermagnetism |url=https://doi.org/10.29172/ce89e5bd-5c66-45d8-bbc6-d11b42be6766 |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)}}

References

States of Matter and Phase Transitions