The Path of No Resistance

Since 1987, stories about superconductivity have regularly appeared on the front pages of newspapers. A breakthrough by two physicists at IBM's Zurich laboratory suddenly transformed what had long been considered an unrewarding backwater of physics into a glamorous and trendy scienrific frontier. A stunning series of discoveries followed that promised to propel the world into a science-fiction future of flying trains, cheap energy and lightning-fast computers. In record time, the IBM physicists received the Nobel Prize. This is the story of what has been called the most important scientific discovery of the last 20 years. The author interviews important figures in the rapidly developing and intensely competitive field of high-temperature superconductivity. Schechter also analyzes the conflicting US and Japanese commercial interests in the new technology, which promises to be an arena for internaitonal economic comptetition. Bruce Schechter has written for "Discover" magazine, "Technology Illustrated" and "Physics Today".