“The sky’s the limit,” Reagan announced. “The breakthroughs in superconductivity bring us to the threshold of a new age. It’s our task to herald in that new age with a rush.”

Two decades have passed and, as any regular commuter will confirm, the next train to arrive at platform one is rarely high-speed and most certainly isn’t levitating.

At the time of Reagan’s announcement, however, the possibilities really did seem endless.

The story began in 1911 with the discovery of superconductive materials by researchers at the University of Leiden. The critical temperature for superconductivity using these materials, however, was near absolute zero, and stayed that way for the next 75 years, suitable only for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and physics particle colliders, cooled by liquid hydrogen.

In 1986 the long awaited ‘great leap forward’ took place when two IBM scientists, Alex Muller and George Benders, identified a ceramic oxide compound which was shown to be superconductive at a higher temperature, where cooling by liquid nitrogen was possible. They were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics the following year.

Problems soon arose, however, in developing the technology for widespread commercial use due to the brittleness of the ceramic compound.

These issues now appear to have been largely overcome by US company American Superconductor, who have developed a way to “bend the unbendable” by embedding up to 85 tiny filaments of superconducting ceramic in a ribbon of metal 4.4mm wide.

These new High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) wires can conduct electricity with little or no resistance and associated energy loss and can transmit

140 times more electricity than conventional copper wires of the same size.

The company is currently developing the first use of a second-generation HTS cable system to efficiently deliver electric power to approximately 8,600 homes and businesses in suburban Columbus.

With scientists now making bold claims about the possibility of superconductivity at room temperature being within reach President Reagan’s predictions may yet come to fruition, just a little later than originally anticipated.

What is superconductivity?