A major scientific breakthrough has been discovered by two separate research teams who have glimpsed the “fourth dimension”, it has been revealed, according to The Express.

Since Albert Einstein developed the theory of relativity in 1905, the fourth dimension usually meant time.

But, two teams in the US and another in Europe have shown the existence of a fourth spatial dimension.

Mikael Rechtsman from Penn State University said: "Physically, we don't have a 4D spatial system, but we can access 4D quantum Hall physics using this lower-dimensional system because the higher-dimensional system is coded in the complexity of the structure.

"Maybe we can come up with new physics in the higher dimension and then design devices that take advantage the higher-dimensional physics in lower dimensions."

In layman’s terms, 3D objects cast 2D shadows, so 4D objects should cast 3D shadows even if the 4D object is imperceivable.

The two teams created two custom-designed, two-dimensional experiments to generate an instance of the quantum Hall effect, which restricts the movement of electrons which allows us both to perceive and measure them.

Researchers who studied the effect managed to win the 2016 Nobel Prize for Physics and three Nobel Prizes have been awarded for experimental and theoretical work for the effect.