Word: chu
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...physics meeting, for example, some were miffed when Stanford researchers, following their presentation, refused to divulge further details of their research; they had been advised by patent attorneys to reveal as little as possible until their work was legally protected. The competition extends beyond legal rights. Two weeks after Chu's record-breaking temperature was announced, the Berkeley team independently came up with the same superconducting compound. They immediately mailed a report of their results to Physics Letters, hoping it would be received before Chu's paper was published. Reason: they wanted to establish that they had not merely copied...
Most intriguing of all are reports that the temperature record set by Chu and since matched by dozens of other researchers has already been surpassed. Some physicists have even reportedsuperconductivity-re lated effects -- though not true superconductivity -- at the torrid heights of 240 K, or -27 degrees F, which is warmer than many wintry nights in North Dakota...
...Bell Labs too was soon to be upstaged. For among those who had given early credence to the news from Zurich was a small, modestly equipped team of researchers headed by Paul C.W. Chu of the University of Houston. Chu had been studying superconductivity since 1965; now he and his group, including scientists from the University of Alabama, quickly reproduced the IBM results and moved on to their own experiments...
...Chu foresees a balmy 120 K within a few months, and does not rule out superconductors that could operate at 300 K (room temperature). University of Illinois Physicist John Bardeen, who shared the Nobel Prize in 1972 for his part in explaining the quantum-mechanical basis of superconductivity, agrees that there is no theoretical reason precluding higher temperature superconductors. But, he says, "finding materials with the right combination of properties is tricky." Admits Chu: "There was a bit of serendipity involved...
...Chu will describe the new material and details of how it was developed in an upcoming issue of Physical Review Letters, but the University of Houston has already applied for a patent on both product and process. If it is granted, Chu stands to share in the profits, which could be large. "It's phenomenal -- we're excited," says Robert Jake of American Magnetics, a manufacturer of superconducting magnets. "But it will take several years of research and development to make it feasible for commercial application." When such applications come, says Chu, they will make clear the significance...