1911 – Holland
‘At very low temperatures, some materials conduct electricity without any resistance: that is, virtually without any loss of energy’
These materials are called superconductors. In 1908 Kamerlingh-Onnes found that metals such as mercury, lead and tin become superconductors at very low temperatures.
It is now known that about twenty-four elements and hundreds of compounds become superconductors near absolute zero.
Superconducting technology advanced little until 1986, when scientists developed a metallic ceramic compound that becomes superconductive at around the temperature of liquid nitrogen – minus 196 degrees Celsius.
- James Dewar (aps.org)