Studies on the temperature dependence of electric conductivity for metals in the Nineteenth Century: a neglected chapter in the history of superconductivity

Two different lines of research had significant contributions to the discovery of superconductivity: the liquefaction of gases and the studies of the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity, or resistance, of pure metals and alloys. Different publications have described and discussed t...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Simón Reif-Acherman
Format: Article
Language:Portuguese
Published: Sociedade Brasileira de Física
Series:Revista Brasileira de Ensino de Física
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1806-11172011000400020&lng=en&tlng=en
Description
Summary:Two different lines of research had significant contributions to the discovery of superconductivity: the liquefaction of gases and the studies of the temperature dependence of the electrical conductivity, or resistance, of pure metals and alloys. Different publications have described and discussed the achievements in the first one of these subjects. The second subject had not received, however, the same attention. This article tries to fill this gap by presenting an account showing details of the evolution of the ideas, the first essentially experimental contributions to the subject and their corresponding responsible persons.
ISSN:1806-1117
1806-9126