Ever since its discovery by Kamerlingh Onnes in 1911, superconductivity has contained the promise of important applications. The ability of superconductors to carry current without resistance was expected to revolutionize the field of electrical engineering. The fulfillment of this promise, however, was deferred for half a century; it is only since the mid 1960's that there has been much progress in applied superconductivity. Superconductivity, with its ability to generate an intense, large‐volume magnetic field economically, can now offer alternatives in the fields of energy generation, storage and distribution as well as in transportation. Some prototype quasi‐commercial devices are already in use, and approximately 30 million dollars are being spent annually to develop this technology further.

Topics
Superconductivity, Superconductors, Electrical engineering, Water transportation
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Superconductor Applications: SQUIDS and Machines (B. B. Schwartz, S. Foner, eds.), Plenum, New York (1977).
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Proceedings of the Applied Superconductivity Conference, 1976,
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© 1977 American Institute of Physics.
1977
American Institute of Physics
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