Resistance is futile

摘要

In 1908 a Dutch physicist, Heike Kamer-lingh Onnes, cooled helium gas to below its boiling point of -269°C, or just four degrees above absolute zero (4K). Three years later, exactly a century ago, he observed that when liquid helium was used to chill mercury, the metal's electrical resistance suddenly vanished, allowing current to flow completely unobstructed. He had discovered superconductivity.