In this book Professor Vidali describes in plain, nontechnical terms how conventional superconductivity was discovered 80 years ago, why it took nearly fifty years to understand it, and the physical explanation of why it exists. He chronicles the developments that led up to the discovery of high temperature superconducting materials, and describes the excitement generated by announcements of the new discoveries in 1987 at a scientific conference that became known as the "Woodstock of physics". Finally, he speculates on possible future applications of these new materials.