Another measurement significantly improved! (1 Viewer)

Uncle Gizmo

Nifty Access Guy
Staff member
Local time
Today, 06:44
Joined
Jul 9, 2003
Messages
16,245
 

The_Doc_Man

Immoderate Moderator
Staff member
Local time
Today, 01:44
Joined
Feb 28, 2001
Messages
27,001
Yes, superconductor sensors multiply the sensitivity available vs. more conventional sensors. I had to do a "fake" research paper during my grad student days to discuss available topics. Had to prove that I was keeping up with the literature. It happened that the seminal work on superconductivity (by Bardeen, Cooper, and Schriefer) had just been awarded the Nobel Prize for physics. So, being opportunistic and wanting to show that I was keeping up with current events, I found a couple of papers that discussed the increased sensitivity of superconducting infrared bolometers and magnetometers. That was early 1970s. So far as I recall, the purpose of the "fake research paper" exercise was to prove that I was able to (a) follow complex research threads across multiple journals and (b) make a coherent presentation of my findings.
 

Uncle Gizmo

Nifty Access Guy
Staff member
Local time
Today, 06:44
Joined
Jul 9, 2003
Messages
16,245
Here's another:-

 

Uncle Gizmo

Nifty Access Guy
Staff member
Local time
Today, 06:44
Joined
Jul 9, 2003
Messages
16,245
Not a measurement improvement, but a breakthrough in tackling Cancer:-

 

Uncle Gizmo

Nifty Access Guy
Staff member
Local time
Today, 06:44
Joined
Jul 9, 2003
Messages
16,245
And here, expertise from the telecom industry points the way to significantly improve the sensitivity of the gravitational wave detector LIGO ...

 

Harrybrigham

Member
Local time
Today, 06:44
Joined
Feb 27, 2021
Messages
82
Yes, superconductor sensors multiply the sensitivity available vs. more conventional sensors. I had to do a "fake" research paper during my grad student days to discuss available topics. Had to prove that I was keeping up with the literature. It happened that the seminal work on superconductivity (by Bardeen, Cooper, and Schriefer) had just been awarded the Nobel Prize for physics. So, being opportunistic and wanting to show that I was keeping up with current events, I found a couple of papers that discussed the increased sensitivity of superconducting infrared bolometers and magnetometers. That was early 1970s. So far as I recall, the purpose of the "fake research paper" exercise was to prove that I was able to (a) follow complex research threads across multiple journals and (b) make a coherent presentation of my findings.
Was that Sheldon Cooper?
 

The_Doc_Man

Immoderate Moderator
Staff member
Local time
Today, 01:44
Joined
Feb 28, 2001
Messages
27,001
Funny, @Harrybrigham but no. On that show, Mayim Bialak was the real Ph.D (in neuroscience, UCLA 2007).

Leon Cooper, John R Schriefer, and John Bardeen were the team who in 1972 were awarded a Nobel prize for their microscopic theory of superconductivity, now referred to in the scientific literature as the BCS theory. One of its features is the idea that when something becomes superconductive, it has undergone a second-order phase transition. Another example of 2nd-order transitions: Heating up natural or induced magnets to above the Curie temperature causes them to lose magnetization even though they don't melt. What these two 2nd-order transitions have in common is that the electron distribution changes even though the primary state of the affected material stays the same (i.e. nothing melts or evaporates or freezes.)

John Bardeen was the senior member of the BCS team but was the junior member of the team headed by William F. Shockley and with Walter Brattain, who in 1956 were awarded the Nobel Prize for creation of the transistor. So to say that he knew something about solid-state electrical physics is somewhat of an understatement. He passed away in 1991 as the only person to ever win TWO Nobel Prizes in Physics. (Marie Curie also won two prizes but in two different subjects.)
 

Uncle Gizmo

Nifty Access Guy
Staff member
Local time
Today, 06:44
Joined
Jul 9, 2003
Messages
16,245
Not a measurement, but an indication that your brain may use quantum processes. Further investigation required....

 

Uncle Gizmo

Nifty Access Guy
Staff member
Local time
Today, 06:44
Joined
Jul 9, 2003
Messages
16,245
They are now developing a wooden battery ..


They have developed a concept car containing this wooden battery but it woodn't go!!!
 

Cronk

Registered User.
Local time
Today, 17:44
Joined
Jul 4, 2013
Messages
2,770
A letter writer to the local paper has come up with the brilliant idea of mounting a fan on the bonnet of EVs to generate electricity.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom