100 years of Superconductivity

Abstract

100 years of the discovery of superconductivity was celebrated in 2011. The complete absence of electrical resistance in some materials below a critical temperature Tc continues to fascinate the scientific community even today. Though the above phenomenon in metals is one of the best understood phenomenon in solid-state physics, superconductivity in the cuprates discovered in 1986 is far from reaching a consensus. Superconductivity has become a multi-billion dollar industry, with applications in medical imaging, cell phone filters, electrical motors, power transmission transportation, magnetic sensing etc. In this article, we briefly describe some of the important landmarks in the last 100 years of superconductivity. Some of the important applications of superconductivity are also discussed below.