Superconductors: The Breakthrough - Softcover

This is the story of the discovery of the superconductor and the race to announce the breakthrough for which the Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded. Hazen worked with Paul Chu who was the first to find the winning formula which led to the discovery of high-temperature superconductors - Chu did not win the Nobel Prize but was certainly a key figure and was widely publicized. The story has elements of drama and suspense - because of the huge sums of money involved for those making the breakthrough, there was a need for great secrecy to avoid industrial espionage. The foreword has been commissioned from Dr Matt Ridley who explains what superconductivity will mean in everyday life and compares Hazen and Chu's work with that of other scientists in the field, in particular with that of other Nobel Prize winners.