{tag=History of condensed matter physics}
{{wiki=Josephson_effect#History}}

In 1962 <Brian Josephson> published his inaugural paper predicting the effect as <Possible new effects in superconductive tunnelling>{full}.

In 1963 <Philip W. Anderson> and <John M. Rowell> published their paper that first observed the effect as <Possible new effects in superconductive tunnelling>{full}.

Some golden notes can be found at <True Genius: The Life and Science of John Bardeen> page 224 and around. <Philip W. Anderson> commented:
> We were all - <Brian Josephson>[Josephson], Pippard and myself, as well as various other people who also habitually sat at the <Mond Laboratory>[Mond] tea and participated in the discussions of the next few weeks - very much puzzled by the meaning of the fact that the <electric current>[current] depends on the <Josephson phase>[phase]

As part of the course Anderson had introduced the concept of broken symmetry in superconductors. Josephson "was fascinated by the idea of broken symmetry, and wondered whether there could be any way of observing it experimentally."


History of the Josephson effect