These days, the scientific community is celebrating the anniversary of an event that forever changed the landscape of world physics. On March 23, 1931, within the walls of the Ukrainian Physico-Technical Institute (UPTI) (now the National Scientific Center "Kharkiv Physico-Technical Institute") in Kharkiv, liquid hydrogen was obtained for the first time. This was not just a technical achievement – it marked Ukraine's entry into the elite "ultra-low temperature club," which at that time included only three cities worldwide: Leiden, Toronto, and Berlin.
In the early 1930s, low-temperature physics was the equivalent of today's quantum computers or space programs – it was the cutting edge of science.
Research at such temperatures allowed scientists to look inside the atom and understand the quantum properties of matter that do not manifest under normal conditions.
It was here that the foundations were laid for creating future materials capable of conducting electricity without losses (superconductors).
Work with liquid hydrogen became the foundation for future rocket technologies and modern hydrogen energy.
The cryogenic laboratory of UPTI did not just conduct experiments – it nurtured a school. A key figure in this process was academician Borys Heorhiiovych Lazarev.
For more details – see the article "Breakthrough into the Unknown: How Kharkiv Became the World Capital... of Cold" by science journalist Olena Zelenina published in "Hromada.Group".