Materials · 1986

High-temperature superconductors

Ceramics that superconduct far above earlier limits.

Georg Bednorz and Alex Muller found superconductivity in a copper oxide at 35 K in 1986, and YBCO beat 77 K in 1987. Liquid-nitrogen-cooled superconductors enabled new cables and fusion magnets.

See it in the living tree Wikipedia

Arcs above join it to what it stood on, arcs below to what it led to. The bar places this stretch on the tree's whole timeline.

What it built on 3

Quantum mechanics 1925
Superconductivity 1911
Pottery 18k BCE

What it led to 2

High-temperature superconducting magnet 2021
Room-temperature superconductor ~2055

Related measurements

The dashed line marks when it first worked.

Record fusion triple product Latest: 1.73×10²² keV·s/m³ (2017) Source: Wurzel & Hsu 2022, Physics of Plasmas 29, 062103; Wurzel & Hsu 2025 update, Physics of Plasmas 32, 112106