Abstract: The discovery of superconductivity, the transmission of electrical current with zero energy loss, recently passed its 100th anniversary. This truly remarkable property of matter, found at cryogenic temperatures, has made its way into a variety of important uses in modern society, but nature has not yet given us the ultimate practical material that will change the world through its lossless transmission of electrical energy over long distances. Research on this complex problem in materials science persists in the world at many levels, and progress is continuously made on both scientific and practical fronts, in spite of the impatience that is often displayed by both the scientific and lay public, who typically prefer immediate rather than delayed gratification.
In this talk, I will briefly describe where we are in this field, how we got here, and the vision that some have had for where we should be going. Because my personal research is in the discovery of new superconducting materials, only one facet among the larger set of fundamental and practical issues currently under study, the talk will be given from that perspective.