David Bishop, who heads micromechanics research, plied such blue-sky pursuits as superconductivity a dozen years ago.

FORBES: Lucent's Labs

Critically, the helium atoms are seen to work in pairs - just as in superconductivity, electrons work in tandem.

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However, Paul Grant, a superconductivity expert at the Electric Power Research Institute in Palo Alto, California, remains cautious.

ECONOMIST: Superconducting power cables

He points out that nobody in the superconductivity business is making money yet.

ECONOMIST: Superconducting power cables

And Dr Leggett's prize is for work on superfluidity, not superconductivity.

ECONOMIST: The Nobel prizes

There are still hurdles to be overcome, including understanding the mechanism of high temperature superconductivity in Bednorz and Mueller's ceramics, which despite years of experiment still eludes us.

BBC: Last Updated: Monday, 5 March 2007, 08:38 GMT

Then, perhaps, superconductivity's tomorrow will truly have arrived.

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Helium-cooled superconductors like those found in MRI machines and the LHC cannot, however, compete with ordinary copper wire in more pedestrian applications, like transmission cables, where the advantages of superconductivity do not merit the enormous costs.

ECONOMIST: Inside story