The 1986-1987 Cuprate Revolution
Georg Bednorz and Karl Müller discovered superconductivity at 35K in copper-oxide ceramics in April 1986, shattering the 23K record that had held since 1973. Within months, Paul Chu pushed the record to 93K using YBCO—crossing liquid nitrogen's 77K threshold for the first time. The community erupted. Bednorz and Müller won the Nobel Prize in 1987, the fastest award in modern physics. Labs worldwide scrambled to synthesize cuprates; Texas created an entire research center around Chu.
Sparked a decade of intense research; dozens of cuprate variants discovered with Tc reaching 133K at ambient pressure (1993).
Cuprates enabled practical applications—superconducting power cables, high-field magnets for MRI and fusion, quantum computers—but never reached room temperature despite 38 years of effort.
Nickelates are chemically similar to cuprates, raising hopes they'll follow the same trajectory: rapid Tc improvements through materials optimization, eventually crossing practical thresholds even without reaching room temperature.