From Superconductors to Quantum Order: A journey through the physics of electrons Catherine Kallin, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada

The physics of electrons in solids underlies virtually all of modern technology and yet the theories which describe this physics are based on a few simple paradigms which were well established by the 1960's.  These theories provide excellent descriptions of the behavior of conventional metals, semiconductors, magnets and even superconductors. However, by the early 1980's phenomena began to appear which did not fit these paradigms. Starting with the quantum Hall effect and continuing on with high temperature superconductivity and frustrated quantum magnets, condensed matter physicists have been forced to develop new ways of thinking about interacting electron systems.  These new approaches are not only of practical interest but they also provide new insights into strongly interacting systems in general and, hence, feed back to other areas of theoretical physics.