Critical-point universality and fluids

Abstract
The similarity of critical behavior in dissimilar systems has long fascinated scientists. When Pierre Curie, in 1895, measured the magnetic equation of state of nickel, he was struck by how much the curves he obtained by plotting magnetization against temperature looked like the density–temperature isobars of carbon dioxide near the critical point. In 1907 Pierre Weiss fashioned his mean‐field theory describing the equation of state of nickel after Van der Waals's equation for fluids.