Four decades of High-Temperature Superconductivity: The road towards an energy efficient technology

by Georg Bednorz

Thursday 25 Jun 2026, 16:30 → 18:00 Europe/Zurich

500/1-001 - Main Auditorium (CERN)

More than half a century would pass after the discovery of superconductivity before the development of materials had reached a stage that made technological applications possible. Thus, in the late 1970s, a technology emerged which enabled the development of high-performance magnets and led to significant progress in solid-state research and medical diagnostics. For decades after the discovery in 1911 search for materials with higher critical temperatures had only moderate success, so superconductivity remained a low-temperature phenomenon.

A paradigm shift in the research strategy for new materials—shifting from metals to oxides—led to the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity in a new class of materials and gave the field of research new momentum. After the discovery, almost four decades of research and development turned the new Cu-oxide-based superconductors into high-performance materials that are now the foundation of a superconductor industry. With its compelling advantages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electrical energy and for efficient industrial processes, superconductor technology has the potential to impact the entire energy sector. Here it would make a significant contribution to the transition to an all-electric society and to combat the environmental problems associated with climate change. Despite successful demonstrations in prototype machines and in various industrial processes, the truly large-scale implementation of the new superconductors as a real gamechanger is still low.

 

Coffee and tea will be served at 16h

Organised by : Matthew Chalmers