Superconductivity News: The Heat is On

The discovery of high-temperature (950K) superconductors has incited a stampede of activity in the last 18 months, not only in research labs, but also in newsrooms and editors' offices. According to the December 1, 1987 issue of High-Tc. Update, 12 new publications in press or planned are aimed at keeping scientists and industrialists up to date on the scientific, governmental and commercial activity involving the new superconducting ceramics. Add to this at least seven existing newsletters that include superconductivity or materials sciences in their regular coverage, and the stage is set for a glut of ceramic superconductor information. The following are capsule reviews of a few of these publications. They range widely in cost and intended audience, and also in quality and usefulness. WEEK Atlantic Information Services, Washington, DC. Published 48 weeks/ yr. $357/yr. The best of the superconductors only newsletters reviewed, Superconductor Week nevertheless shows the strain of devoting a weekly publication to what is still a narrow topic of limited commercial application. While covering business and research, the editorial tone generally has remained appropriate to actual progress in the field, avoiding overstatements and addressing the critical issue of government-industrial cooperation especially well. The scientific commentary is weak, however, and the interviews occasionally prolix and unauthoritative. The planned inclusion of translated excerpts from Nikkei Superconductors (scheduled to begin in January but not available when this review was written) could itself justify a subscription. UPDATE STN International, Columbus, OH. Published biweekly. $750/yr. Superconductors Update consists of all the superconductivity-related abstracts from two international databases: the PHYS file of the Fachinformationszentrum in Karlsruhe, West Germany, and the CA file of the Chemical Abstracts Service. Since it covers only published articles (as opposed to pre-prints like High-Tc Update), the abstracts already several months old. This makes the publication useful for career superconductivity scientists, but of little help for keeping abreast of the latest high-Tc developments. WEEK King Communications Group, Washington, DC. Published weekly. $297/yr. Published since May 1987, New Technology Week was timed to tap into the superconductor boom. However, with a large editorial staff, it aims for a larger target: materials, physics, energy, defense, and electronics in American corporate R&D. Feature articles focus on individual companies and governmental programs. Pithy interviews with research supervisors lend insight to larger issues of trade, technology and business. Each issue lists recent government research contracts or patents. Professional and direct, New Technology Week would be a valuable publication to any organization involved in materials, aeronautics, energy and electronics. Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University the Department of Energy. Published biweekly. Free to contributors of news and preprints. Although High-Tc Update is not a commercial publication, no active scientist in the field can afford not to receive this U.S. government-supported bulletin. Since May 1987, the newsletter has provided the most complete and current preprint listings for ceramic superconductors, along with brief but authoritative commentaries on research announcements and key conferences. The scientific credentials of the Ames Laboratory staff, which puts the publication together, and the willingness of most early researchers to share their results, gave this newsletter credibility from the start. Its free distribution (contingent on participation in the information exchange) then guaranteed that it would reach physicists and materials scientists around the world. The newsletter is indispensable for high-Tc researchers. PROCESSING REPORT The MIT Press and the MIT Materials Processing Center, Cambridge, MA. Published monthly. $337/yr. Materials and Processing Report, a "veteran" now in its third year, is devoted not to superconductivity, but to international developments in materials R&D. In bulletin format with sources for further information, the monthly newsletter from MIT Press contains concise and well-edited technical descriptions of new materials and methods, governmental policy, capsule patent descriptions, and meeting announcements. It provides excellent coverage for materials specialists. WORLD REPORT Empire Communications Group, St. Paul, MN. Published monthly. $385/year. Superconductor World Report proclaims itself a corrective to the "hyperbolae [sic], fantasy, and gush" in high-tc journalism, but its first issue oozes with overwrought prose: "mightiest assaults," "advancing relentlessly," etc. If you can stomach the style, don't swallow the content: an editorial predicts "[U.S.] Government funding should remain unscathed" in the winter of Gramm-Rudman; a survey of the U.S. superconductor industry ignores General Electric's Medical Systems Group. The second issue suffers as well from a lack of technical detail, editorial insight and proofreading-inexcusable at over $30 an issue. DeGuire is Nord Assistant Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, 10900 Euclid Ave., Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, OH 44106.

Superconductivity News: The Heat is On

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of