2010/08/05 by Joerg Schmalian, JÖRG SCHMALIAN · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Cooper pair #Natural (archaeology) #Phenomenon #Physicist #Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism #Quantum and Classical Electrodynamics #Superconductivity #Superconductivity in MgB2 and Alloys #cond-mat.supr-con #physics.hist-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1142/s0217984910025280
14 pages, 3 figures (typos fixed), to appear in: Bardeen Cooper and Schrieffer: 50 YEARS, edited by Leon N Cooper and Dmitri Feldman
arxiv created 2010/08/05 · openalex publication_date 2010/10/04 · arxiv updated 2015/05/19 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Almost half a century passed between the discovery of superconductivity by Kamerlingh Onnes and the theoretical explanation of the phenomenon by Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer. During the intervening years the brightest minds in theoretical physics tried and failed to develop a microscopic understanding of the effect. A summary of some of those unsuccessful attempts to understand superconductivity not only demonstrates the extraordinary achievement made by formulating the BCS theory, but also illustrates that mistakes are a natural and healthy part of scientific discourse, and that inapplicable, even incorrect theories can turn out to be interesting and inspiring.