Superconductivity, the ability of certain materials to conduct electricity with
no resistance whatsoever, has fascinated scientists since its discovery by
Kammerlingh-Onnes in 1911. While much has been understood, the question
of predicting which materials will become superconducting, and at what
temperatures, remains one of the grand challenges of modern materials
theory. This talk will outline the evolution of our understanding as the subject
has progressed from its primitive beginnings through the ''bronze age''
marked by the 1986 discovery of high temperature superconductivity in
copper-oxide compounds to the present-day ''iron age'' of the Fe-As based
superconducting materials. The current status of the theory of the origin of
superconductivity will be described.
