Superconductivity : From Discovery to Breakthrough

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6-- Writing in short, rather stiff sentences liberally peppered with names, dates, and scientific terms, Billings describes the discovery and properties of superconductivity, as well as the research programs, through 1989, that have led to its appearance in different materials at ever higher--although still frigid--temperatures. She speculates methodically about the uses of superconductors in electronics, medicine, power production, storage and transmission, communications, space travel, Big Science (the ``superconducting supercollider'') and military devices, and then shows how superconducting pellets can be manufactured even in a high school lab; young scientists will need plenty of time for trial and error if this book is their only source of advice, though. Lampton's Superconductors (Enslow, 1989) covers the subject in greater detail--for one thing, he mentions research into very high temperature superconductivity--but a well-chosen selection of photos, many in color, give this book an attractive look. A good alternate purchase for background reading, and the science project is a useful added feature. --John Peters, New York Public Library