Paul Grant (physicist)

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Paul Grant
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Paul Grant
Born(1935-05-09)May 9, 1935
Poughkeepsie, New York, USA
DiedDecember 20, 2023(2023-12-20) (aged 88)
Ajijic, Mexico
Alma mater Clarkson University, Harvard University
Occupation(s)Physicist, Science-Writer
Employer(s) IBM, EPRI, W2AGZ [1]
Awards

Paul Michael Grant was an American/Irish physicist and science writer who was involved in discovering and elucidating the structure of Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide which was important as the first high temperature superconductor to exhibit superconductivity above the boiling point of Nitrogen. [2] [3] He was a co-author of IBM's US patent application covering their preparation. [4] [5] [6] [7]

Contents

Career

Grant joined IBM Poughkeepsie, NY in 1953 working as a technician on the SAGE computer defense system. [8] He was able to take advantage of IBM's educational leave-of-absence program to obtain a BS degree from Clarkson and a Ph.D. from Harvard. [9]

In 1957, he filed a patent [10] that is cited as a precursor to the magnetoresistive head used universally in magnetic recording. In 1965, he moved to IBM Research – Almaden. At IBM, Grant was among the team researching superconductivity in the material Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide (YBCO) and found it to exhibit superconductivity at temperatures as high as 90 K. [2] This patent application provided some of first evidence that superconductivity could be supported at temperatures above the boiling point of Nitrogen, a common cryogenic refrigerant.

In 1987–88, with guidance from Grant, his 8th-grade daughter, Heidi, and then subsequently a science class at Gilroy High School, were able to show the relative ease with which high temperature superconductors could be fabricated and demonstrated [11] [12] [13] .

Also in 1987, Grant became the manager of the group at IBM devoted to research on exotic new materials, including superconductors. When high-Tc cuprate superconductors were discovered at IBM Zurich that same year, Paul became the driving force behind the work at IBM Research - Almaden in this hot new area. IBM Almaden made many important discoveries related to these cuprate superconductors, with Grant involved on most of them.

From 1990 to 1993, Grant was a “visiting faculty researcher” at the Instituto de Investigationes Materiales (IIM), National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), where he carried out numerical studies on the properties of rare earth copper oxides.

From 1993 to 2004, Grant was a Science Fellow with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

In 2004, he started his own consulting business. [1] [5] Grant has long been an advocate for commercial applications of superconductivity. [14] [15] He was a popular science writer [11] [16] [17] [18] and has been prolific author of scientific papers and patents. [19] [20] Grant was a member of the Storage Interest Group [21] at the Computer History Museum.

From 2005 to 2008, he was a visiting scholar in applied physics at Stanford University

Patent dispute

In 2000, a patent dispute over the invention of YBCO (see above) dating back to March 1987 was finally resolved. The dispute was between IBM's Almaden Research Center, the US Naval Research Laboratory, the University of Houston, and Bell Labs. Ultimately, Bell Labs. prevailed and was granted the US patent based on priority date (date of invention rather than the current criterion of date of filing) [22] [23]

Recognition and awards

Grant became a Senior Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1998 "For contributions to the fields of organic conductors and high temperature superconductivity". [24] He became a Fellow of the Institute of Physics, United Kingdom, in Nov 2004.

In 2013, Grant was chosen as American Physical Society Distinguished Lecturer on the Applications of Physics. [25]

Grant was also one of Clarkson University's "Notable Knights". [26]

Science Writing

Grant was a prolific science writer, for both professional and popular audiences. He wrote multiple articles and News and Views commentaries on a range of topics for the journal Nature.

Final Years

In 2021, Grant retired to Ajijic, Mexico with his wife Maru Grant. He enjoyed skiing, traveling, reading and 70s rock music. He passed away on December 20th, 2023.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superconductivity</span> Electrical conductivity with exactly zero resistance

Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases gradually as its temperature is lowered, even down to near absolute zero, a superconductor has a characteristic critical temperature below which the resistance drops abruptly to zero. An electric current through a loop of superconducting wire can persist indefinitely with no power source.

Unconventional superconductors are materials that display superconductivity which does not conform to conventional BCS theory or its extensions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High-temperature superconductivity</span> Superconductive behavior at temperatures much higher than absolute zero

High-temperature superconductors are defined as materials with critical temperature above 77 K, the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. They are only "high-temperature" relative to previously known superconductors, which function at even colder temperatures, close to absolute zero. The "high temperatures" are still far below ambient, and therefore require cooling. The first break through of high-temperature superconductor was discovered in 1986 by IBM researchers Georg Bednorz and K. Alex Müller. Although the critical temperature is around 35.1 K, this new type of superconductor was readily modified by Ching-Wu Chu to make the first high-temperature superconductor with critical temperature 93 K. Bednorz and Müller were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1987 "for their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials". Most high-Tc materials are type-II superconductors.

A room-temperature superconductor is a material capable of displaying superconductivity at temperatures above 0 °C, which are commonly encountered in everyday settings. As of 2023, the material with the highest accepted superconducting temperature was highly pressurized lanthanum decahydride, whose transition temperature is approximately 250 K (−23 °C) at 200 GPa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yttrium barium copper oxide</span> Chemical compound

Yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) is a family of crystalline chemical compounds that display high-temperature superconductivity; it includes the first material ever discovered to become superconducting above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen [77 K ] at about 93 K.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Ching Wu Chu</span> Chinese-American physicist

Paul Ching Wu Chu is a Chinese-American physicist specializing in superconductivity, magnetism, and dielectrics. He is a professor of physics and T.L.L. Temple Chair of Science in the Physics Department at the University of Houston College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. He was the president of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology from 2001 to 2009. In 1987, he was one of the first scientists to demonstrate high-temperature superconductivity.

The Woodstock of physics was the popular name given by physicists to the marathon session of the American Physical Society’s meeting on March 18, 1987, which featured 51 presentations of recent discoveries in the science of high-temperature superconductors. Various presenters anticipated that these new materials would soon result in revolutionary technological applications, but in the three subsequent decades, this proved to be overly optimistic. The name is a reference to the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of superconductivity</span>

Superconductivity is the phenomenon of certain materials exhibiting zero electrical resistance and the expulsion of magnetic fields below a characteristic temperature. The history of superconductivity began with Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes's discovery of superconductivity in mercury in 1911. Since then, many other superconducting materials have been discovered and the theory of superconductivity has been developed. These subjects remain active areas of study in the field of condensed matter physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide</span> Family of high-temperature superconductors

Bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide (BSCCO, pronounced bisko), is a type of cuprate superconductor having the generalized chemical formula Bi2Sr2Can−1CunO2n+4+x, with n = 2 being the most commonly studied compound (though n = 1 and n = 3 have also received significant attention). Discovered as a general class in 1988, BSCCO was the first high-temperature superconductor which did not contain a rare-earth element.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Type-II superconductor</span> Superconductor characterized by the formation of magnetic vortices in an applied magnetic field

In superconductivity, a type-II superconductor is a superconductor that exhibits an intermediate phase of mixed ordinary and superconducting properties at intermediate temperature and fields above the superconducting phases. It also features the formation of magnetic field vortices with an applied external magnetic field. This occurs above a certain critical field strength Hc1. The vortex density increases with increasing field strength. At a higher critical field Hc2, superconductivity is destroyed. Type-II superconductors do not exhibit a complete Meissner effect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georg Bednorz</span> German physicist (born 1950)

Johannes Georg Bednorz is a German physicist who, together with K. Alex Müller, discovered high-temperature superconductivity in ceramics, for which they shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in Physics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K. Alex Müller</span> Swiss physicist and Nobel laureate (1927–2023)

Karl Alexander Müller was a Swiss physicist and Nobel laureate. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1987 with Georg Bednorz for their work in superconductivity in ceramic materials.

Donald Maurice Ginsberg was an American physicist and expert on superconductors.

Cuprate superconductors are a family of high-temperature superconducting materials made of layers of copper oxides (CuO2) alternating with layers of other metal oxides, which act as charge reservoirs. At ambient pressure, cuprate superconductors are the highest temperature superconductors known. However, the mechanism by which superconductivity occurs is still not understood.

Superconductors can be classified in accordance with several criteria that depend on physical properties, current understanding, and the expense of cooling them or their material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thallium barium calcium copper oxide</span> Family of high-temperature superconductors

Thallium barium calcium copper oxide, or TBCCO (pronounced "tibco"), is a family of high-temperature superconductors having the generalized chemical formula TlmBa2Can−1CunO2n+m+2.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superconducting wire</span> Wires exhibiting zero resistance

Superconducting wires are electrical wires made of superconductive material. When cooled below their transition temperatures, they have zero electrical resistance. Most commonly, conventional superconductors such as niobium–titanium are used, but high-temperature superconductors such as YBCO are entering the market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lanthanum barium copper oxide</span> High temperature superconductor

Lanthanum barium copper oxide, or LBCO, is an inorganic compound with the formula CuBa0.15La1.85O4. It is a black solid produced by heating an intimate mixture of barium oxide, copper(II) oxide, and lanthanum oxide in the presence of oxygen. The material was discovered in 1986 and was the first high temperature superconductor. Johannes Georg Bednorz and K. Alex Müller shared the 1987 Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery that this material exhibits superconductivity at the then unusually high temperature. This finding led to intense and fruitful efforts to generate other cuprate superconductors.

LSAT is the most common name for the inorganic compound lanthanum aluminate - strontium aluminium tantalate, which has the chemical formula (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2TaAlO6)0.7 or its less common alternative: (La0.18Sr0.82)(Al0.59Ta0.41)O3. LSAT is a hard, optically transparent oxide of the elements lanthanum, aluminium, strontium and tantalum. LSAT has the perovskite crystal structure, and its most common use is as a single crystal substrate for the growth of epitaxial thin films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rare-earth barium copper oxide</span> Chemical compounds known for exhibiting high temperature superconductivity

Rare-earth barium copper oxide (ReBCO) is a family of chemical compounds known for exhibiting high-temperature superconductivity (HTS). ReBCO superconductors have the potential to sustain stronger magnetic fields than other superconductor materials. Due to their high superconducting critical temperature and critical magnetic field, this class of materials are proposed for future use in technical applications where conventional low-temperature superconductors do not suffice. This includes magnetic confinement fusion reactors such as the ARC reactor, allowing a more compact and potentially more economical construction, and superconducting magnets to use in future particle accelerators to come after the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, which utilizes low-temperature superconductors.

References

  1. 1 2 W2AGZ website
  2. 1 2 Grant, P. M.; Beyers, R. B.; Engler, E. M.; Lim, G.; Parkin, S. S. P.; Ramirez, M. L.; Lee, V. Y.; Nazzal, A.; Vazquez, J. E.; Savoy, R. J. (1987). "Superconductivity above 90 K in the compound YBa2Cu3Ox: Structural, transport, and magnetic properties". Physical Review B. 35 (13): 7242–7244. doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.35.7242. PMID   9941013.
  3. ↑ A. Malozemoff et al., "Superconductivity at IBM - a Centennial Review: Part II – Materials and Physics", IEEE/CSC & ESAS European Superconductivity News Forum, No. 20, July 2012
  4. ↑ Canadian Patent CA1341623C refers to US provisional patent application US2465387A filed 1987-03-11
  5. 1 2 W2AGZ Paul Grant biography
  6. ↑ Clarkson University Biography: Paul Grant
  7. ↑ Grant, Paul (2001). "Rehearsals for prime time". Nature. 411 (6837): 532–533. doi:10.1038/35079212. PMID   11385548. S2CID   4423073.
  8. ↑ Computer History Museum: SAGE Defense System
  9. ↑ IBM Kingston News, Vol. 5, No. 21, May 25, 1960
  10. ↑ US Patent 3016507, "Thin film magneto resistance device" 1962-01-09
  11. 1 2 P. Grant, "Do-it-yourself superconductors", New Scientist, pp. 36-38 30 July 1987
  12. ↑ M. Browne, "Superconductivity Moves From the Laboratory to the Classroom" NY Times, Jan. 12, 1988
  13. ↑ IBM Research Blog, June 2011
  14. ↑ Physics World video, "Where next for superconductivity", 6th Apr. 2011
  15. ↑ P. Grant, "The Energy Supergrid"
  16. ↑ P. Grant, "Hydrogen lifts off — with a heavy load", Nature Vol. 424, 10 July 2003
  17. ↑ Grant, Paul M. (2002). "London calling". Nature. 420 (6917): 743–744. doi:10.1038/420743a. S2CID   38765396.
  18. ↑ P. Grant, C. Starr, T. Overbye, "A power grid for the hydrogen economy", Scientific American, pp. 77-83, July 2006
  19. ↑ Google Citations: Paul Grant
  20. ↑ Paul Grant publications and patents
  21. ↑ Storage Interest Group, Computer History Museum, Mountain View, California
  22. ↑ Tony Feder, "Bell Labs Wins Long-Running Patent Battle over High-Tc Superconductor", Physics Today 53, 4, 56 (2000)
  23. ↑ MacIlwain, Colin (2000). "Bell Labs win superconductivity patent". Nature. 403 (6766): 121–122. doi: 10.1038/35003008 . PMID   10646568. S2CID   1120705.
  24. ↑ APS Fellow Archive
  25. ↑ APS Newsletter Fall 2013 "Paul Grant chosen as the 2014 Distinguished Lecturer"
  26. ↑ Clarkson University Notable Knights
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