Bibliography

P. F. Dahl, Superconductivity: Its Historical Roots and Development from Mercury to the Ceramic Oxides (American Institute of Physics, 1992). A very dense, slow and incredibly detailed history of everything relating to superconductivity. From the liquefaction of gases to the formation of BCS theory, the book has all the history, including the personal anecdotes and professional rivalries. Much of the history in this paper comes from this book. The depth and historical research of the book is impressive.

G. Vidali, Superconductivity: The Next Revolution? (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge [England]; New York, NY, USA, 1993). A great book emphasizing the historical and the conceptual. Very little math is in the book; nevertheless, the book contains a surprizing conceptual depth in its explaination of BCS theory. Additionally, it offers and very concise history of the the development of superconductors. For non-mathematical questions, this was always the first book I turned to because it is very well organized, easy to read and has a great balance between breadth and depth.

W. Buckel, Superconductivity: Fundamentals and Applications (VCH Publishers, Inc., 1991). A detailed book on the properties and theories of superconductors with an emphasis on the conceptual over the mathematical. Nice historical introduction.

H. K. Onnes, Comm. Leiden 120b (1911). Onnes' original publication of the resistance vs. temperature data for mercury that showed superconductivity.

R. D. Parks, Superconductivity (M. Dekker, New York, 1969). A huge book containing an amazing wealth of information about the properties and theories of superconductors. Although more challenging than many, this book contains a great introduction with information about many different phenomenological theories of superconductivity. The book's treatment of BCS theory was too advanced for me, but with the exception of the Londons' equations, all phenomenological theories presented in this paper are based primarily if not entirely on this book.

H. Ibach and H. Lüth, Solid-State Physics: an Introduction to Principles of Materials Science (Springer, Berlin; New York, 1996), 2nd ed. All BCS calculations come at least in part from this book. It has the only derivation of the BCS ground state wavefunction that I found that tries (and succeeds) at being accessible at the undergraduate level. This was the primary text for my derivation of the London equations and, with the exception of a few holes filed in from Tinkham, the only source for the mathematical threatment of BCS theory.

V. Z. Kresin and S. A. Wolf, Fundamentals of Superconductivity (Plenum Press, New York, 1990). A good overview of superconductivity, more focused on history and concepts than on math.

F. Mandl, Statistical physics (Wiley, Chichester [West Sussex]; New York, 1988), 2nd ed. A solid resource for basic thermodynamics.

M. Tinkham, Introduction to Superconductivity, International Series in Pure and Applied Physics. (McGraw Hill, New York, 1996), 2nd ed. Contains a complete derivation of much of BCS theory. Much of it is hard to follow, but very useful for filling in holes from other derivations.

J. B. Ketterson and S. N. Song, Superconductivity (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; New York, 1999). The opening few pages quickly explains a range of topics from the derivation of the Londons' equations to the differences between type-I and type-II superconductors - a good reference.

L. Hoddeson, Journal of Statistical Physics 103, 625 (2001). A great mini-biography of Bardeen's involvement in the creation of BCS theory. My history of BCS theory is almost entirely based on this article.

A. Sommerfeld and H. Bethe, Elektronentheorie der metalle, in Handbuch der Physik, edited by H. Geiger and K. Sheel (Springer, Berlin, 1933), vol. 24, pp. 333-622.

J. Bardeen, Theory of Superconductivity. Theoretical Part, in Handbuch der Physik (Springer, Berlin, 1956), vol. 15, pp. 274-369.

J. Schrieffer, in interview with J. Warnow and R. M. Williams, Sept. 26, 1974.

J. Bardeen, L. N. Cooper, and J. R. Schrieffer, Physical Review 108 (1957). Bardeen, Cooper and Schrieffer's original paper.

C. P. Poole, H. A. Farach, and R. J. Creswick, Superconductivity (Academic Press, San Diego, 1995). Similar to Ketterson & Song, this is book quickly becomes too advanced and detailed in the theory of superconductivity, but its opening chapter is a good reference.

M. Shur, Introduction to Electronic Devices (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996).

B. Cabrera, Physical Review Letters 48, 1378 (1982).