The Cold Wars

There is no temperature below absolute zero, and, in fact, zero itself is impossible to reach. The quest to reach it has lured scientists for several centuries revealing interesting and unexpected phenomena along the way. Atoms move more slowly at low temperatures, but matter at bareLy above absolute zero is not immobile or even necessarily frozen. Among the most peculiar of matter’s strange behaviors is superconductivity¾simply described as electric current without resistance¾discovered in 1911.  With the 1986 discovery that, contrary to previous expectations, superconductivity was possible at temperatures well above absolute zero, research into practical applications has flourished. Superconductivity has turned out to be a fruitful arena for developments in condensed matter physics, which have proved applicable in particle physics and cosmology as well.

Cold Wars tells the history of superconductivity, providing perspective on the development of the field and its relationship with the rest of physics and the history of our time. The authors provide a rare look at the scientists and their research, mostly little known beyond a small coterie of specialists. Superconductivity provides an excellent example of the evolution of physics in the twentieth century: the science itself, its epistemological foundations, and its social context. Cold Wars will be of equal interest to students of physics and the history of science and technology, and general readers interested in story behind this remarkable phenomenon.