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Articles on Superconductivity

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The search for the room-temperature superconductor continues. Charles O'Rear/Corbis Documentary via Getty Images

Scientists have been researching superconductors for over a century, but they have yet to find one that works at room temperature − 3 essential reads

Claims about the discovery of a coveted room-temperature superconductor peppered the news in 2023. We pulled three stories from our archives on what superconductivity is and why scientists study it.
Photograph of the first Solvay Conference in 1911 at the Hotel Metropole. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes is standing third from the right. Benjamin Couprie/Wikimedia Commons

Superconductivity at room temperature remains elusive a century after a Nobel went to the scientist who demonstrated it below -450 degrees Fahrenheit

Superconductivity may sound like science fiction, but the first experiments to achieve it were conducted over a century ago. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, credited with the discovery, won a Nobel Prize in 1913.
Room-temperature superconductors could make high-speed maglev trains more practical. Visual China Group via Getty Images

Room-temperature superconductors could revolutionize electronics – an electrical engineer explains the materials’ potential

Superconductors make highly efficient electronics, but the ultralow temperatures and ultrahigh pressures make them costly and difficult to use. Room-temperature superconductors promise to change that.
Magnetic levitation is just one of the interesting attributes that make superconductors so interesting. Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library vie Getty Images

How do superconductors work? A physicist explains what it means to have resistance-free electricity

Superconductors are materials that can transmit electricity without any resistance. Researchers are getting closer to creating superconducting materials that can function in everyday life.
Strange new materials that propel the fictional Star Trek universe are being developed by scientists in reality today. Above, the USS Discovery accelerates to warp speed in an artist’s rendition for the TV series Star Trek Discovery. (Handout)

How quantum materials may soon make Star Trek technology reality

Advanced materials that seem like they come from Star Trek are becoming reality today.
Superconducting materials have strange and unusual properties including magnetic levitation. Shutterstock

Explainer: what is a superconductor?

Just what is a superconductor? And what can it be used for? Research using superconductors at higher temperatures opens up more possibilities for this fascinating class of materials.

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