Superconductivity at IBM - a Centennial Review: Part I - Superconducting Computer and Device Applications

The hundred-year anniversary of the discovery of superconductivity coincided with the centennial of the founding of IBM. For mor e than half its history, IBM has had significant research and development activities in superconductivity. These included the two largest industrial programs aimed at developing superconducting digital computers. They also included a fundamental physical science progr am o ut of which came the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity. Significant fundamental and applied superconductivity research continues today within IBM, including work on superconducting qubits, which may portend a third major superconducting computer development program. This article reviews IBM's applied superconductivity work in the context of the evolution of the IBM Corporation. A companion article reviews the physics and materials science research activities.

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