Zero resistance to cake

By Louise Mayor

We had a good chuckle in the Physics World office when we saw how Ted Forgan and his condensed-matter group at Birmingham University in the UK are celebrating the centenary of superconductivity.

As Forgan explained, “According to my info, today is the actual day, so in our group we celebrated with a cake.” He does, however, acknowledge his “amateur icing skills”.

Apparently, comments about the cake have included “Does it contain super currants?”, “Does it contain pears?”, and the less obvious “Is it a Butter–Chocolate–Sugar supercake? (maybe this depends on Tc, the cooking temperature)”.

I had to get this last one explained to me; if you need a clue too, it refers to the Bardeen–Cooper–Schrieffer (BCS) theory of superconductivity.

Once the pun-groans have subsided, if you want to know more about what superconductivity is all about and what’s hot in superconductivity right now, then look no further than this free PDF download of our April special issue. In fact, we’re in touch with Forgan because he contributed a piece about high-temperature superconductivity called “Resistance is futile”.

You might also want to check out this video feature about superconductivity by Paul Michael Grant called “Down the path of least resistance”.

Clearly, superconductivity brings out the puns in everyone.