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Superfluidity: How Quantum Mechanics Became Visible

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History of Artificial Cold, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Issues

Part of the book series: Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science ((BSPS,volume 299))

Abstract

In December 1937, J.F. Allen and A.D. Misener in Cambridge and simultaneously P. Kapitsa in Moscow discovered the superfluidity of liquid helium. In March 1938, F. London proposed that superfluidity was a consequence of a quantum phenomenon called “Bose-Einstein condensation” (BEC). This was a major step in Physics because, if London was right – and it is now accepted that he was right – quantum mechanics had to be at play at the macroscopic scale of our visible world, not only at the microscopic scale of atoms or molecules.

This major discovery was made possible by the progress of low temperature techniques, especially the construction of helium liquefiers. London’s ideas were soon developed by L. Tisza who invented the “two fluid model” to explain most of the helium properties that were known at that time. In 1941, L.D. Landau made further progress in the understanding of superfluidity but, surprisingly, he never agreed with London and Tisza on the possible relation of superfluidity to BEC. Among these five great physicists, only Landau and Kapitsa received a Nobel Prize.

The history of this discovery is quite interesting because it illustrates the way how modern science progresses, especially how controversies could be solved, also because this discovery was made at a time when the world was torn apart by conflicts and wars. Seventy years later, superfluidity has been found in several other quantum fluids. It appears as closely related to superconductivity, another macroscopic property of quantum matter, and superfluid helium can be used to cool down matter at an industrial scale.

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Acknowledgements

I acknowledge support from the ERC grant AdG247258-SUPERSOLID.

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  1. Laboratoire de Physique Statistique de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, associé au CNRS, à l’Université Pierre et Marie Curie et à l’Université Denis Diderot, 75231, Paris Cedex 05, France

    Sébastien Balibar

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    Kostas Gavroglu

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Balibar, S. (2014). Superfluidity: How Quantum Mechanics Became Visible. In: Gavroglu, K. (eds) History of Artificial Cold, Scientific, Technological and Cultural Issues. Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science, vol 299. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7199-4_6

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