High-temperature superconductors are one of the most active and exciting areas of condensed matter physics research. From high-quality thin-films to friction-less transportation, their applications in industries such as telecommunications, environment and geology, medicine, nuclear physics, and security are just the beginning. The Rise of the Superconductors is an ideological chronology of the science that has produced superconductors. Beginning with the first liquefaction of helium, the book presents the discovery of the Meissner effect and the development of type II superconductors...