"It's a very thin line, because as you try to increase the temperature at which a material becomes superconducting, the material tends to lose its stability," Kolmogorov said.

"It was like spotting a $100 bill on the street," Curtarolo. "It seemed impossible that this could be real and that no one had seen it before."

Difference engines: Get the word

Word processing, which is the computer application that has most dramatically changed the lives of office workers, had its beginnings in the Middle Ages with efforts to automate the writing process. The invention of printing and movable type was the initial step. But for the individual, the first major advance from manual writing was the typewriter.

Christopher Latham Sholes, with the assistance of two colleagues, invented the first successful manual typewriter in 1867. It began to be marketed commercially in 1874. This model printed on the underside of the roller, so the typist could not view his work until he had finished.