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Article: Of Meissner men: superconductors.
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- January 22, 1994
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1994 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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PAUL CHU, a physicist at the University of Houston, and in 1987 one of the first to make high-temperature superconductors, has seen lots of USOs - unidentified superconducting objects. And no wonder. The promise of zero electrical resistance at temperatures ordinary enough to be cheap makes the mouth water: floating trains, the endless storage of vast amounts of power, superfast chips, supercheap electromagnets - electrical engineers dream of them all. Eager physicists who think they have hit upon the formula can seldom contain their excitement for long.
Sadly, most sightings fizzle out almost as mysteriously as they appear. So only guarded enthusiasm has greeted news ...