[1][2] Upon warming through the Verwey transition temperature (TV), the magnetite crystal lattice changes from a monoclinic structure insulator to the metallic cubic inverse spinel structure that persists at room temperature.
[3] The phenomenon is named after Evert Verwey, a Dutch chemist who first recognized, in the 1940s, the connection between the structural transition and the changes in the physical properties of magnetite.
[4] The Verwey transition is near in temperature, but distinct from, a magnetic isotropic point in magnetite, at which the first magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant changes sign from positive to negative.
[5] The temperature and physical expression of the Verwey transition are highly sensitive to the stress state of magnetite and the stoichiometry.
Non-stoichiometry in the form of metal cation substitution or partial oxidation can lower the transition temperature or suppress it entirely.