BCS theory

<p>In <a href="/facts/Physics/a7aH2y08">physics</a>, the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) theory (named after <a href="/facts/John_Bardeen/kbj763Fh">John Bardeen</a>, <a href="/facts/Leon_Cooper/058c4ER2">Leon Cooper</a>, and <a href="/facts/John_Robert_Schrieffer/DfX8s90T">John Robert Schrieffer</a>) is the first <a href="/facts/Microscopic_theory/Cg5Thb3S">microscopic theory</a> of <a href="/facts/Superconductivity/pqQAlSzJ">superconductivity</a> since <a href="/facts/Heike_Kamerlingh_Onnes/bJk48dFD">Heike Kamerlingh Onnes's</a> 1911 discovery. The theory describes superconductivity as a microscopic effect caused by a <a href="/facts/Bose%25E2%2580%2593Einstein_condensate/76peCwfW">condensation</a> of <a href="/facts/Cooper_pair/uHILVyXu">Cooper pairs</a>. The theory is also used in <a href="/facts/Nuclear_physics/fzQbt1aF">nuclear physics</a> to describe the pairing interaction between <a href="/facts/Nucleon/6fguU9Xk">nucleons</a> in an <a href="/facts/Atomic_nucleus/orpIm5Xl">atomic nucleus</a>.
</p><p>It was proposed by Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer in 1957; they received the <a href="/facts/Nobel_Prize_in_Physics/o6w1nCbr">Nobel Prize in Physics</a> for this theory in 1972. 
</p>

BCS theory open-in-new

BCS theory