In the golden research period immediately following World War II, the three of us took up research work in cryogenics and superconductivity. We were fortunate enough to make some discoveries in superconducting materials that laid the groundwork for new avenues of technological development. In this article, we present our recollections of the history of these discoveries and some of the human events surrounding them. As is well known, scientific progress rarely takes the logical paths usually portrayed in scientific journals; much of it begins with chance encounters or random events. We shall mention a few of the unusual factors that affected our work and some of the people who influenced our thinking.
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1.
Superconducting research before 1952: D. Shoenberg, Superconductivity, Cambridge U. P. (1952), 2nd edition.
2.
Electron‐phonon motion: J. R. Schrieffer, Theory of Superconductivity, Benjamin, New York (1964).
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Research Philosophy: A. B. Pippard, PHYSICS TODAY November 1961, page 38.
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© 1981 American Institute of Physics.
1981
American Institute of Physics
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