Nobel Prize in Physics

K. Alexander Müller

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1987 was awarded jointly to J. Georg Bednorz and K. Alexander Müller "for their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials."


J. Georg Bednorz

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1987 was awarded jointly to J. Georg Bednorz and K. Alexander Müller "for their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials."

Arno Allan Penzias

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1978 was divided, one half awarded to Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa "for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics", the other half jointly to Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson "for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation."


Robert Woodrow Wilson

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1978 was divided, one half awarded to Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa "for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics", the other half jointly to Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson "for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation."


Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1978 was divided, one half awarded to Pyotr Leonidovich Kapitsa "for his basic inventions and discoveries in the area of low-temperature physics", the other half jointly to Arno Allan Penzias and Robert Woodrow Wilson "for their discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation."

Brian D. Josephson

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1973 was divided, one half jointly to Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever "for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively" and the other half to Brian David Josephson "for his theoretical predictions of the properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier, in particular those phenomena which are generally known as the Josephson effects."


Leo Esaki

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1973 was divided, one half jointly to Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever "for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively" and the other half to Brian David Josephson "for his theoretical predictions of the properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier, in particular those phenomena which are generally known as the Josephson effects."


Ivar Giaever

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1973 was divided, one half jointly to Leo Esaki and Ivar Giaever "for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively" and the other half to Brian David Josephson "for his theoretical predictions of the properties of a supercurrent through a tunnel barrier, in particular those phenomena which are generally known as the Josephson effects."

John Robert Schrieffer

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1972 was awarded jointly to John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer "for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory."


Leon Neil Cooper

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1972 was awarded jointly to John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer "for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory."


John Bardeen

The Nobel Prize in Physics 1972 was awarded jointly to John Bardeen, Leon Neil Cooper and John Robert Schrieffer "for their jointly developed theory of superconductivity, usually called the BCS-theory."

Lev Davidovich Landau

for his pioneering theories for condensed matter, especially liquid helium

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes

In 1913, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures, which led, inter alia, to the production of liquid He4", and the discovery of superconductivity.

In 1908, Kamerlingh Onnes successfully liquefied helium. This allowed him to investigate the thermodynamics properties of helium in the liquid and gas phase. He also investigated the electrical properties of metals down to about 1K. In 1911, he observed the transition to a "zero resistance state" in a pure mercury sample as the temperature of the sample was lowered to below 4.2K. He labeled this "zero resistance state" as "superconductivity."