The phase behaviour and phase stability of lipids are of importance in an understanding of the biological functions of cell membranes. Among a variety of physical techniques employed to study the phase behaviour and structural properties of polar lipids, differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction have proved to be successful and are the most frequently used methods. Applications involving a combination of the two techniques, particularly when synchrotron radiation is used as the light source of X-ray diffraction, are reviewed in this article.