Different experimental techniques were developed and proposed for determining the thermal conductivities of metals in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Each one reflects the ingenious application of a number of physical principles, some of which only emerged in the panorama of the physical sciences of the moment. The production in recent decades of many revolutionary materials with structures that vary on the length scale of several nanometers, with applications in electronic and optoelectronic devices, have driven a natural evolution in the experimental techniques from steady-state to transient methods, involving modern theoretical models, advanced instrumentation, and ingenious practical developments. This article presents a historical-technical account of the whole evolution, highlighting the main advantages and disadvantages of those most important, some of the technological circumstances that prompted the emergence of new techniques, as well as their comparative estimation capabilities. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.