It’s been 40 years since the first demonstration of high-temperature superconductivity. A new article published in Nature written by UC Davis physicists Inna Vishik and Warren Pickett takes a retrospective look at “this strange state of matter.”

The discovery of room-temperature superconductors would open a huge range of applications and new technologies. There are no physical laws that rule out such materials, according to a recent perspectives article by a group of scientists including Warren Pickett, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of physics and astronomy at UC Davis.