Originally introduced by Yakov Frenkel and Tatiana Kontorova in 1938 to describe the structure and dynamics of a crystal lattice near a dislocation core, the FK model has become one of the standard models in condensed matter physics due to its applicability to describe many physical phenomena. Physical phenomena that can be modeled by FK model include dislocations, the dynamics of adsorbate layers on surfaces, crowdions, domain walls in magnetically ordered structures, long Josephson junctions, hydrogen-bonded chains, and DNA type chains. A modification of the FK model, the Tomlinson model, plays an important role in the field of tribology.