YBCO & Superconductivity History

YBCO & Superconductivity History

Background

The history of Yttrium barium copper oxide and superconductivity has had effectively 27 years to develop into a plethora of "alternate" stories, innuendo's, omissions, misrepresentations and even perjury. Here, the complete story with factual evidence to underpin this remarkable discovery is told.  Existing stories and interpretations are referenced to place these ito context and the background drivers behind those stories.

This page came about due to the IEEE Milestone presented in Houston TX on 17 November 2014, IEEE honoring significant work carried out at The University of Houston as the site at which occurred the discovery of superconductivity above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. While not formally challenging the Milestone, it was clear that accuracy and the events around that Milestone needed to be clarified and updated.[ link to High-Temperature Superconductivity, 1987 Milestone page]

Structure

The history is broken into 2 parts:

Part I. The early story of thiose 9 pivotal week from the perspective of James Ashburn starting with initial work with the copper oxide materials ~ 1 Dec 1986, through the discovery at the end of January 1987. The first few months after the discovery ("Woodstock of Physics," etc.) follows a fairly simple narrative. During this time things were not yet complicated by "alternative accounts,".  [link to James Ashburn 'first hand history' page when generated]

Part 2. By mid-1987, varying historal stories and accounts began to propagate. It is from this point forward that a chronological telling becomes more difficult. This page is the topical approach where James addresses various aspects of the stories and endeavours to trace the evolution of each.

Acknowledgment

Mr James Ashburn of Huntsville TX.