Superconductivity Oral Histories

CSC Activity | Wed, Oct 17th, 2018

Oral history word cloud

“Everyone who believes himself to have made a significant discovery will admit that the first inklings had their origin in something read or heard, and very likely misunderstood. The final result is none the worse because it was reached by stumbling - it is only our pride which is hurt when we fail to measure up to that perfection of progress that the great men of the past always seemed to achieve. Or did they? If we wish to boast of our achievements, let us not point to the unerring pursuit of truth by a logically faultless thinking-machine, but to the even more astonishing way in which truth can be caused to emerge from the toils of error and stupidity.”

(Ref: A. B. Pippard, quoted in "100 Years of Superconductivity”, Ed. H. Rogalla and P.H. Kes, CSC Press, (2011) p 49)

Oral histories provide us with a valuable insight into the circumstances under which the application superconductivity and technical superconductors has progressed and the IEEE Council on Superconductivity is actively engaged in selecting and sponsoring interviews with prominent  senior researchers and managers in the field of superconductivity.