Scientists discovered in 1937 that liquid helium-4, when chilled to extremely low temperatures, became a superfluid that could leak through glass, overflow its containers, or eternally gush like a fountain. Future Nobel laureate Lev Landau, a Soviet physicist, came along in 1941, predicting that superfluid helium-4 should contain an exotic, particle-like excitation called a roton, but scientists-including Landau, Nobel laureate Richard Feynman, and Wolf Prize recipient Philippe Nozieres-have debated what structure the roton would take ever since.
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