Strain Effects in Superconducting Compounds

This chapter describes the National Bureau of Standards’ Strain Effects in Superconducting Compounds, relating the context in which the publication appeared, its impact on science, technology, and the general public, and brief details about the lives and work of the author. Strain Effects in Superconducting Compounds synthesizes a wide range of electromechanical strain data into what has become known as the Strain Scaling Law, which has had a strong impact on the design of large-scale, high-field superconductor magnet coils since that time. The Strain Scaling Law was the result of a unique high-field electromechanical measurement capability, developed by Jack Ekin at NBS, which led to the discovery and systematization of the intrinsic strain effect in practical superconductors. Ekin had focused primarily on the electrical properties of metals and superconductors in his thesis work at Cornell University and postdoctoral work at Rutgers University before joining NBS in 1975.