The LK-99 episode
A claimed room-temperature superconductor is replicated, refuted and buried within a month.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 25 days
- Known to
- ± 12 hours
- Era
- Contemporary, Holocene
A Korean group posted claims on 22 July 2023 of superconductivity at ambient pressure and temperature. Laboratories worldwide dropped what they were doing; within four weeks the effect was traced to copper sulphide impurities. It was the fastest large-scale replication effort in the history of physics, conducted almost entirely on preprint servers and social media, and is now the standard example of open science working quickly.