Bednorz, Johannes Georg

Bednorz, Johannes Georg (yōhän'us gāôrkh' bed'nôrts) [key], 1950–, German physicist. After earning his doctorate from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, he began (1982) work at the IBM Zürich Research Laboratory with Karl Alex Müller. In 1983 they discovered superconductivity in a ceramic fragment at temperatures much higher than had been previously thought possible. Their discovery made possible applications in power lines, generators, and computers. In 1987, Bednorz and Müller were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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