By Elie Track, VP Finance IEEE-Council on Superconductivity and Luisa Chiesa, President IEEE-Council on Superconductivity
The IEEE Council on Superconductivity (IEEE-CSC) is proud to celebrate its 25th Anniversary in 2025, crowning two and a half decades of cutting-edge innovation, community building through education, international cooperation, while fostering our future through Young Professionals. Since its founding in 2000, following ten years as an IEEE Technical Committee, IEEE-CSC has spearheaded conferences, conference support, and the most comprehensive and respected journal in the field of applied superconductivity: the IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. By focusing on applications and engineering advances, IEEE-CSC sought to contribute to the IEEE mission of Advancing Technology for Humanity. Superconductivity has a long history dating back to 1911 when it was first discovered. IEEE-CSC helped celebrate its centennial in 2011 at the locale of the discovery in Leiden, Hollan, as well as at The Hague.
The beauty of superconductivity lies in its interdisciplinary nature spanning from fundamental science to novel materials, applied engineering, and products commercialization. The most known applications of superconductivity include superconducting magnets for MRI, a key advance in healthcare diagnostics, as well as for High Energy Physics Accelerators, the key technology to understand the physics of the early universe and support the most advanced theories like supersymmetry. Those applications would not be possible without superconductivity. Looking to the future, superconducting magnets will be indispensable to the realization of nuclear fusion, providing a definitive solution to Humanity’s energy needs without any concomitant pollution. In electronics, superconductivity has been at the heart of advanced sensors for radio astronomy as well as numerous measurement instruments, including Primary Voltage Standards (which define the “Volt”). Looking to the future in that domain, superconducting electronics are projected to provide the key solution for the most advanced Artificial Intelligence implementations, achieving the required performance while maintaining unique energy efficiency.
As Quantum Information Science, including Quantum Computing, Quantum Communications, and Quantum Sensing, exploded on the worldwide research stage, IEEE-CSC led the way to create the most relevant journal in the field, focused on applications, the Transactions on Quantum Engineering. Working with multiple other IEEE Societies, including the Computer Society, IEEE-CSC ensured the establishment of the journal as a key resource for researchers and technologists. Similarly, IEEE-CSC partnered with the Computer Society and other IEEE Societies to create and maintain “Quantum Week,” the premier conference in the field.
IEEE-CSC is proud of its multidisciplinary nature and its unique role at the intersection of the interests of multiple IEEE Societies. The volunteers and community of IEEE-CSC are the reasons of the success story of the council. Through their continuous support and our dedicated effort in fostering and retaining our Young Professionals we look forward to the next 25 years and to witness some of the most impressive innovations in the service of Humanity.
Do you want to learn more about IEEE-CSC? Check out our website!
Interested in learning more about superconductivity? Check out our video library and our journals IEEE-TAS and IEEE-TQE!
