100 years of superconductivity

In 1911, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, a low-temperature physicist, discovered the extraordinary phenomenon of superconductivity. He found that some metals, when cooled to very low temperatures, have no electrical resistance. So a wire made of these metals can carry an electric current around it forever, without needing a battery or other power source. This discovery came as a consequence of Onnes’ research on techniques to liquefy gases with the goal of reaching absolute zero.