The first company to capitalize on high-temperature superconductors was Illinois Superconductor (today known as ISCO International), formed in 1989. This amalgam of government, private-industry and academic interests introduced a depth sensor for medical equipment that was able to operate at liquid nitrogen temperatures (~ 77K).
     In recent years, many discoveries regarding the novel nature of superconductivity have been made. In 1997 researchers found that at a temperature very near absolute zero an alloy of gold and indium was both a superconductor and a natural magnet. Conventional wisdom held that a material with such properties could not exist!  Since then, over a half-dozen such compounds have been found. Recent years have also seen the discovery of the first high-temperature superconductor that does NOT contain any copper (2000), and the first all-metal perovskite  (2001).
     Also in 2001 a material that had been sitting on laboratory shelves for decades was found to be an extraordinary new superconductor. Japanese researchers measured the transition temperature of magnesium diboride at 39 Kelvin - far above the highest Tc of any of the elemental or binary alloy superconductors. While 39 K is still well below the Tc's of the "warm" ceramic superconductors, subsequent refinements in the way MgB₂ is fabricated have paved the way for its use in industrial applications. Laboratory testing has found MgB₂ will outperform NbTi and Nb₃Sn wires in high magnetic field applications like MRI.
     Though a theory to explain high-temperature superconductivity still eludes modern science, clues occasionally appear that contribute to our understanding of the exotic nature of this phenomenon. In 2005, for example, Superconductors.ORG discovered that increasing the weight ratios of alternating planes within the layered perovskites can often increase Tc significantly. This has led to the discovery of more than 40 new high-temperature superconductors, including a candidate for a new world record.
     The most recent "family" of superconductors to be discovered is the "pnictides". These iron-based superconductors were first observed by a group of Japanese researchers in 2006. Like the high-Tc copper-oxides, the exact mechanism that facilitates superconductivity in them is a mystery. However, with Tc's over 50K, a great deal of excitement has resulted from their discovery.
     Researchers do agree on one thing: discovery in the field of superconductivity is as much serendipity as it is science. Stay tuned!