Special:Badtitle/NS90:Milestones-Nomination talk:High-Temperature Superconductivity/significance of this invention/discovery

As indicated in my discussion comment of 7th August, I support this nomination as being an unexpected and significant development. I am not an expert in Superconductivity, so have tried to get additional information via others. A response I have received as a result is a suggestion that so far no really significant developments or applications have followed from this discovery, and the theoretical basis to explain it is not yet resolved (there are a number of 'theories' which attempt to provide an explanation of the physics, but there is not agreement over which, if any, are correct). There seem to be some applications of value in high selectivity microwave filters (since the superconductivity permits use of higher Q factor designs) but high temperature superconductivity has not by any means replaced conventional low temperature superconductive materials in major applications (for example strong magnets in MRI Scanners). Therefore on the basis of this, it might be claimed that the Milestone would be premature - e.g. better to wait until there are more clear cut actual significant engineering applications, and also for when there is a better understanding of the phyiscal mechanisms involved. Note this is not my recommendation, it is a suggestion for discussion. Tony Davies