The American Institute of Physics, founded in 1931, has grown and prospered during the past 75 years. And so has the field of condensed matter physics (CMP). Today, CMP is the largest branch of physics in the US and in most countries around the world. But the field’s stature has its origins in the slow knitting together of a diverse set of specialties that flourished in the early 20th century. Indeed, one can argue that solid-state physics did not exist in 1931—at least in name. Only starting roughly in the mid-1930s did the term gradually become the familiar label attached to conferences, journals, and research groups. Not until 1947 did the American Physical Society establish the division of solid-state physics (DSSP). 1
The name change from solid-state physics to CMP was also gradual, motivated partly by physicists’ desire to include the study of materials like quantum liquids and liquid...
