[UCRDBR] Dickson Presentation by Chandra Varma: “Discovery of Superconductivity-Historical and Physical Perspective”

[Departmental Benefits Representatives]

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April 7, 2026


To:
Department Benefits Representatives (DBRs)
From:
Central HR Benefits Office on behalf of the UCR Emeriti and Retirees’ Associations
Re:
Dickson Presentation by Chandra Varma: “Discovery of Superconductivity – Historical and Physical Perspective”



DBRs, please share this information via your internal listserv.  Please do not reply to this email.  Please send a separate email with questions to benefits at ucr.edu<mailto:benefits at ucr.edu>.




The UCR Emeriti (UCREA) and Retirees’ (UCRRA) Associations invites you to attend the upcoming Edward A. Dickson Emeritus/a Lecture Talk Series. Each year three retired UCR faculty are awarded Edward A. Dickson Professorships to support their research, teaching, or public service activities. In the year following their awards, Dickson Professors give public presentations of their work.

“Discovery of Superconductivity – Historical and Physical Perspective"

Presenter: Dickson awardee Chandra Varma | Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Time: 3:00 – 4:30 p.m. | Location: In-person at University Extension Building 1101 in the University Village and Livestreamed via Zoom

Description

I will set the scene for the surprising discovery of Superconductivity in 1911, and the simultaneous (but not realized) phenomena of Superfluidity, by relating what was known and considered important to discover, and what was unknown in the bubbling but unfermented prior decade. I will talk about the confusion of great minds when the essential physics, without which these phenomena could not be understood, was yet to be discovered. Yet with the right attitude and great leaps of imagination, some of them made remarkable and enduring contributions, which survive the full understanding which arrived only in the 1950s and 1960s. Such an understanding has affected everything subsequent in physics from nuclear physics to particle physics to cosmology.

Refreshments will be provided



Event Registration

To join in-person or through livestreaming, please register to receive the event details on the Retirement Center webpage at:

https://ucriverside.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_aaacFzhTfJR9mrc



Please find the invitation flyer attached.



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