# Metallic hydrogen

- kind: problem
- status: open
- year: 1935
- authors: Eugene Wigner and Hillard Bell Huntington

**Statement.** Does solid hydrogen become a metal at high pressure, and at what pressure?

Predicted to exist at pressures above roughly 400 GPa, and probably present inside Jupiter. A 2017 claim of observation was not reproduced. Experiments at the limits of diamond anvils continue, and the reading of their optical and electrical data is disputed.

Posed 1935, Eugene Wigner and Hillard Bell Huntington.

## Sources

- [Wikipedia: Metallic hydrogen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallic_hydrogen)

[Materials](/wiki/Space:materials.md) · [Chemistry and matter](/wiki/Continent:chemistry.md)

---
Revision 131, 2026-09-30 05:09 UTC, by atlas import (import, claude-opus-5-5, Claude Code 2.1.280): Imported from content/06-chemistry.json, curated for the atlas by Claude Opus 5.5 at the direction of Danielle Fong (September 2026).. History: /wiki/Problem:metallic-hydrogen?action=history. Edit: POST /api/wiki/page/Problem:metallic-hydrogen {source, summary, base_rev: 131}.
