Chương 61: Book 3 - Chapter 5 A

After a week enjoying a tropical island Mattie the Grandparents and I returned with the security team that had accompanied us. The chartered flight took us non-stop back to Tulsa. Mom met us at the airport terminal, but Grandma hurriedly warned her.

"Don't hug Mattie, she has a sunburn." Mom buried me in a hug instead.

"You look nicely browned, why didn't you get burned?" she asked.

"He somehow had a computer in his hotel room," Grandma said, answering for me.

"He didn't spend nearly the same amount of time on the beach as we did."

"Of course he did," Mom muttered.

"Well, come on. We got the new limo for the hotel, and I brought it to pick everybody up." Security stowed the luggage in the cavernous trunk as we settled into the plush back seats. With security driving, as well as following in a second vehicle we headed to the hotel.

"This is nice," Grandma said, complimenting the car.

"It's armored with my bulletproof felt," I told her.

"How interesting. Why did they do that?" she asked.

"It was to test the effectiveness. I gave the limo company the felt to work on and they gave us an armored limo."

"That's not all that's new," Mom interrupted.

"You're pregnant!" I jokingly teased. Mom playfully swatted my arm.

"No, silly. The spa is open!" she said, with the slightest blush on her cheeks. It had been good for her and Dad to get away for a bit.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Grandma beamed.

"I can't wait to compare spas after trying the one in Grand Cayman."

"I've booked us a travel recovery package at the Mayo Spa," Mom told her.

"I'm interested in comparing it to the one I used in New Hampshire." I looked at Grandpa and rolled my eyes, and he barely suppressed his chuckle. At dinner that night, the conversation flowed as everyone tried to catch up on each other's experiences.

"Mattie is feeling much better after her spa treatment," Mom said, rubbing my sister's hair as she ate her dinner waffles.

"That's good," Dad said.

"I didn't know you could do anything for sunburn."

"They have a special salve with aloe vera and other things. It's very effective and I brought some home for her. I'll put it on tonight and in the morning."

"How does our spa compare?" I asked.

"The service is just as good, but our massage specialist is much better," Grandma replied.

"What about ambiance, background music, the miniature waterfall providing a soothing background noise?" I asked.

"Oh, it's world class," Mom assured.

"It was ten times better than the facility in New Hampshire."

"Ray," Grandpa asked my Dad, "what was your impression of the facilities at Mount Washington?"

"It's a fabulous location, but it closes every winter," he said going into detail.

"There's been decades of deferred maintenance. Much of it is still original from the 1902 construction. It just became a national historic landmark. While I like challenges, I'm concerned about the amount of work it will take. It would be a project that lasts for years."

"It's a fantastic deal, Grandpa, it includes a ski area, two golf courses and tons of property. It's a great opportunity for future development," I added.

"We can talk about it later," he said.

"When does school start for Mattie?" Grandma asked, changing the subject and not interested in hearing hotel talk at dinner.

"Her school had some renovations done over the summer, so it's starting later this year. It'll be this upcoming Tuesday." Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

"What about you, John?" Grandma asked, "Are you going back to get another Doctorate?"

"Um, actually I've been invited to guest lecture," I said.

"They want me to spend a week talking about superconductivity at Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore Labs September 9th through 13th."

"That's wonderful!" Grandma exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"Isn't that wonderful, Mary?"

"Yes, that's wonderful," Mom reluctantly agreed.

"Will Matt be back in time to go with you?"

"Yes, he will," I said.

"Speaking of Matt," Grandpa interrupted.

"He'll continue to be John's personal security and assistant. But, on a related note, I'd like to know what you thought of the security team you all interacted with on your trip."

"They were fine, stayed out of the way when not needed and helpful when they were," Dad said.

"Good. Because they've been hired on a permanent basis. The family's wealth has grown considerably the last year and John's wealth is skyrocketing as well, as his inventions start to get produced. Security will, therefore, continue to be essential for the whole family." There were unhappy faces, but in the end everyone was in agreement. Mom couldn't deny the guest lectureship at Berkeley and Lawrence Livermore Labs, despite not wanting me away from home again.

"Mom, I want to go just with Matt. The security company has people in San Francisco already. They'll meet us at the airport and handle transportation while I'm there. That way it's just two seats on the plane."

"I don't know, Johnny. I'll talk it over with security to see what they say. With Mattie's school starting and everyone is very busy right now. I really wish you had someone else to take you.

"I trust Matt, but you're paying him out of pocket now. He's not under contract as part of your scholarship anymore. I'm worried that means he's going to let you take more risks, or not tell you no when he should."

"Well, check with security and let me know. I need to get my travel plans made today or tomorrow morning at the latest." It was much easier not having an entourage when flying commercial. Matt and I arrived and were whisked to Berkeley for my lecture. My introduction at the big Zellerbach Hall set the stage for a successful lecture series. I was introduced warmly: "Please welcome the youngest Doctor in the world and the father of high-temperature superconductivity, Dr John Cook." I had to chuckle at the title.

I addressed that first.

"I'm a little young to be the father of anything, even if I owned an entire cabbage farm," I said, using the traditional bad joke to start, and the audience responded. Then I began my lecture.

"The modern understanding of superconductivity was formed with BCS theory in 1957. Recently that theory has grown and we now recognize that there are three types of superconductors.

"Type one, the traditional superconductor is a single element that loses its superconductivity when the external magnetic field reaches a certain strength. For example: Lead, Mercury and Tin.

"Type two superconductors are alloys and metallic compounds more tolerant of magnetic fields. These qualities make them more useful for practical applications. Niobium-titanium used in MRI machines, for example, is one of the current two options that use a ductile superconductor. Unfortunately it requires liquid helium for cooling to the required temperature.

"While the elegant BCS theory provides the foundation for conventional low-temperature superconductors, the reality of high-temperature compounds like Yttrium Barium Copper Oxide is far more complex. Their mechanism remains one of the great open problems in Condensed Matter Physics.

"We are not simply tweaking existing alloys, we are exploring unconventional pairing mechanisms that defy the established paradigm pushing us to fundamentally rethink how electrons behave in correlated systems.

"Consider the Materials Science hurdle that results. YBCO demonstrates a critical temperature far above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. However, its current use is limited precisely because of its anisotropy and the profound impact of grain boundaries. When we synthesize bulk YBCO misaligned crystallites form weak links that severely limit the critical current density, the maximum current the material can carry, to unacceptable levels for industrial applications.

"Our challenge is not just synthesizing the material, it's mastering epitaxial growth or developing innovative coating techniques to manufacture long flexible wires that can maintain high current density over industrial scales.

"This brings us to applications. As the most common application of superconductors MRI technology will continue to grow in use and imaging quality. Yet helium, used to cool the superconductor, is a dwindling and expensive terrestrial resource. We are currently limited to fields around one to three Tesla in MRI machines with conventional Niobium-titanium superconductors. This is not just because of the cooling cost but because the critical field limit of these materials is simply too low.

"Imagine instead a magnet operating at the potential critical field of YBCO, a material that can maintain superconductivity in fields exceeding one hundred Tesla at liquid nitrogen temperatures.

"This isn't just an evolutionary jump in cooling. It is a revolutionary leap in field strength enabling diagnostics and energy storage systems that are currently theoretical.

"Could we build magnetic levitating high speed trains? How detailed would an MRI be if it was using a one hundred Tesla magnetic field? Could massive superconductors serve as energy storage systems for our power grids? Making scientific discoveries is of course important, but seeing your work in everyday use around the world—that's something special.

"It all comes down to theory followed by practical application. Making the impossible an everyday part of life—these are the things that draw young researchers into Material Science and Condensed Matter Physics. These are the places that move the world, not just fill journals read by your peers. I eagerly await to see where you take this potential and the novel solutions you create. To see and experience the new world we will build together." After the initial lecture there was an open mic where I took questions.

It was fun dealing with intelligent thoughtful people. The rest of the lecture series would continue in the smaller Lawrence Hall of Science or the Director's Conference Center at LLNL and be much more focused on high temperature superconductivity and the wonder material, graphene.