Woodstock of Physics

Yes, there's been a Woodstock of Physics, as Christian Speicher describes in NZZ (5.4.2006) the 1987 spring meeting of the American Physical Society where – in a special session – the discoverer of high-temperature superconductivity presented there finding of 1986. The session attracted several thousands of scientists and – after 51 contributions – ended the next day in the early morning. Christian Speicher now celebrates the 20th anniversary of the key paper's submission (sic!) by Georg Bednorz and Alex Müller on 17.4.1986. The duo recorded superconductivity in particular oxides at 35 Kelvin. Because a difficult magnetic test for confirmation was not feasible due to a lack of equipment they submitted the ground breaking paper not with Science or Nature but the "Zeitschrift für Physik". It took some time until the breakthrough was realized and repeated by others. The temperature of phase transition to superconductivity was rapidly increased by other researchers to 91 Kelvin – a second breakthrough which draws huge scientific and media attention. As soon as three years later, Science inquires "Is the party over?" because -- obviously -- scientists have been dreaming of electricity grid without resistance, at ambient temperatures, but overlooked the hard obstacles to overcome. Until know there's still no sound theory on the workings of high-temperature superconductivity.