Milestone on superconductivity
UPDATE: report available
For an update on the report of the milestone event, please have a look at the report of the IEEE technical council on superconductivity.Contents
- Announcement
- IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing
- Milestone Citation
- Date and Venue
Announcement of the second IEEE Benelux milestone event
NEW:Press release: Download nowIEEE Milestones recognize the technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. Each milestone recognizes a significant achievement that occurred at least twenty-five years ago in an area of technology represented in IEEE and having a large impact. To date, more than seventy-five Milestones have been approved and dedicated around the world. The Board of Directors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) has approved an IEEE Milestone in Electrical Engineering and Computing to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the discovery of superconductivity in 1911 by Prof. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and his collaborators. Milestone plaques will be mounted on a wall near the entrance hall of the Kamerlingh Onnes Building of the Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands, where the discovery was made, and will be dedicated on 8 April 2011, the precise 100th anniversary of the discovery. The plaque will bear the following citation:
DISCOVERY OF SUPERCONDUCTIVITY, 1911
On 8 April 1911, in this building, Professor Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and his collaborators, Cornelis Dorsman, Gerrit Jan Flim, and Gilles Holst, discovered superconductivity. They observed that the resistance of mercury approached "practically zero" as its temperature was lowered to 3 kelvin. Today, superconductivity makes many electrical technologies possible, including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and high-energy particle accelerators.
IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing
IEEE Milestones in Electrical Engineering and Computing is a program of the IEEE History Committee administered through the IEEE History Center to honor significant achievements in electrical, electronic, and computer engineering and the associated sciences. Milestones recognize the technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity found in unique products, services, seminal papers and patents. Milestones are proposed, nominated, and sponsored by an IEEE Organizational Unit such as an IEEE section, society or chapter. After recommendation by the IEEE History Committee and approval by the IEEE Executive Committee, a bronze plaque commemorating the achievement is placed at an appropriate site with an accompanying dedication ceremony. The program is administered for the IEEE History Committee by the IEEE History Center.IEEE established the Milestones Program in 1983 in conjunction with the 1984 Centennial Celebration to recognize the achievements of the Century of Giants who formed the profession and technologies represented by IEEE.
Each milestone recognizes a significant achievement that occurred at least twenty-five years ago in an area of technology represented in IEEE and having at least regional impact. To date, more than seventy-five Milestones have been approved and dedicated around the world.
