Invited Speaker：Prof. David Cardwell FREng

Report Title：Bulk Superconductors: Revolution or Red Herring?

Time: Mar. 27th, 2025, 10:00-12:00am

Location：Xingqing Campus, Zhongying Buliding B901 Meeting Room

Host Department：Department of International Cooperation & Exchanges, 

                                  School of Materials Science and Engineering

Introduction：

David Cardwell is Professor of Superconducting Engineering and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Strategy & Planning). He was previously Head of the Engineering Department. The Bulk Superconductor research group at Cambridge, founded by Prof. Cardwell, works on the processing and applications of bulk high temperature superconductors, which can be used to generate very high magnetic fields. He has authored over 330 technical papers and patents. For his outstanding contributions to the engineering and application of superconducting materials, Professor Cardwell was elected as a ‌Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng)‌ in 2012. Professor Cardwell has been a ‌Fellow of Fitzwilliam College‌ since 1993. He is also a founding member of the ‌European Society for Applied Superconductivity (ESAS)‌ and serves on the editorial boards of five international academic journals. From 2007 to 2013, he served as ‌Director of Postgraduate Studies‌ and was appointed ‌Head of the School of Technology‌ in 2014. As ‌Chair of the Graduate Research Committee‌, he established and led the ‌Technology Graduate School‌ and held roles across multiple faculties. He is actively involved in the recruitment of overseas undergraduates for the sciences, and particularly from the Far East.

Abstract:

The discovery of the so-called High Temperature Superconductors in 1987, which in bulk forms are able to conduct very high electrical currents and hence generate extremely high magnetic fields at liquid nitrogen temperatures, was heralded as the most significant scientific breakt Tough since the discovery of the transistor.

This lecture will describe in a substantially non-mathematical way the properties of these remarkable materials, their manufacture and their potential for engineering applications, which include frictionless bear ngs, energy storage systems, MRI and high field permanent magnets.

Professor David Cardwell was previously the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Strategy and Planning at the University of Cambridge. He is Professor of Superconducting Engineering and was previously Head of the Department of Engineering. He founded the Cambridge Bulk Superconductivity Research Group on the processing and applications of bulk high temperature superconductors, which can be used to generate very high magnetic fields, including the world record field on 17.6 T in a bulk superconductor set in 2014.