Disciplines
Solid-State Physics
Also Known As Condensed Matter Physics The broader successor term adopted from 1967; this entity is scoped to the crystalline-solid and semiconductor core rather than the full modern condensed-matter umbrella, which also covers liquids.
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Solid-state physics studies the structure and properties of rigid matter, chiefly crystalline solids, through the tools of quantum mechanics, crystallography and electromagnetism. Topics such as crystallography, metallurgy, elasticity and magnetism were treated as separate areas until the 1940s, when they consolidated into one field. The 1947 invention of the transistor at Bell Labs by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley, which won the trio the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics, marked solid-state physics' arrival as a field of enormous practical consequence. In 1967, Philip W. Anderson and Volker Heine renamed their Cambridge research group from Solid State Theory to Theory of Condensed Matter to also cover liquids and other condensed phases, and condensed matter physics is the broader term in wide use today, though solid-state physics remains the name for the crystalline-solid and semiconductor core of the field this entity covers.
Facts
Central QuestionSourced to the subject's own accountHow does the collective quantum mechanical behavior of enormous numbers of electrons moving through a crystal lattice give rise to observable bulk properties such as electrical conductivity, magnetism and superconductivity? 1 ScopeSourced to the subject's own accountSolid-state physics studies the physical properties of solid materials, especially crystalline solids, through the quantum mechanical behavior of the electrons and atoms within their fixed lattice structure. 1 SignificanceSourced to the subject's own accountFelix Bloch's 1928 quantum mechanical treatment of electrons moving through a periodic crystal lattice, now known as Bloch's theorem, provided the theoretical foundation for band theory, the framework still used to explain why some solids conduct electricity and others do not. 1 Disputed
Founded YearMax von Laue's 1912 discovery that X-rays diffract through crystals, followed within a year by William Henry and William Lawrence Bragg's first crystal structure determinations, opened solid-state physics as a field distinct from general physics. A competing, later origin point is 1947, when John Bardeen, Walter Brattain and William Shockley's invention of the transistor turned semiconductor solid-state physics into a major research and industrial program. Cross-Tradition Connections
Founded By
Felix Bloch, Scientists Credited with the foundational quantum theoretical result, band theory via Bloch's theorem, rather than sole founder of the broader field.
Has Scientist
Part Of
A branch of physics; also closely tied to materials science, which drew on it as one of its own founding fields.
Studies
Uses
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHistory sectionQuote, History section
A variety of topics in physics such as crystallography, metallurgy, elasticity, magnetism, etc., were treated as distinct areas until the 1940s, when they were grouped together as solid-state physics.
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
1. Condensed Matter Physics (Wikipedia)
2. 100th Anniversary of the First Crystal Structure Determinations (OUPblog)
Oxford University Press Blog, 2013Lead sectionQuote, Lead section
On 30 July 1913, the crystal structure of diamond was published by W. H. and W. L. Bragg, father and son, and those of sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and potassium bromide, by W. L. Bragg, the son. They were the first crystal structures determined by X-ray diffraction, and they revolutionized the ideas of the time about chemical bonds in solids.
Scanning Tunneling Microscope (Wikipedia)
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