The study of high-pressure physics includes any type of physical research in which unusually high pressures are used. There is no specific definition for "high pressures," but the term usually refers to pressures that can be produced only with some degree of difficulty. Indeed, much of the history of high-pressure research is the story of efforts to construct instruments by which greater and greater pressures can be produced and by which changes in materials caused by these pressures can be observed and measured.

High-pressure research is of interest in many fields of physics, because most physical properties undergo some kind of change with increased pressure. One of the earliest examples of high-pressure research was that conducted by the English physicist John Canton in 1762. Canton demonstrated that water can be compressed by applying pressure to it. Certainly the most famous names in pre-twentieth century high-pressure research are...