This paper deals with two topics. One is the history of superconductivity, and the other is what Richard Feynman had to do with it. The history of superconductivity can be traced back to Michael Faraday and the first liquefaction of a gas in 1823. It is a heroic tale of triumph over cold and resistance, and once the phenomenon was actually discovered in 1911, it would take almost 50 years more before a satisfactory explanation emerged. Although Richard Feynman only authored one published paper on the subject, he worked prodigiously on the problem through much of the 1950s, and his competitors, particularly Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer, fully expected that he would be the one to crack the problem. It did not work out that way.
The emergence of applied mathematics as a discipline in the United States is traditionally associated with World War II. Hungarian-born Theodore von Kármán was among those who had waged a long and vigorous campaign well before the war to make applied mathematics respectable to engineers and mathematicians. While advocating the use of mathematics and physics to solve applied problems, he challenged the prevailing philosophy of engineering programs, locked horns with recalcitrant journal editors, and generally encountered the obstacles to building a discipline that cuts across conventional boundaries.
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