Thesis-PDF - IAP/TU Wien

»Later I have been asked many times if I feel bad for missing the effect? The
answer is clearly no, because to make an experimental discovery it is not enough
to observe something, one must also realize the significance of the observation, and
in this instance I was not even close.«
Ivar Giaever, about the Josephson effect 1 he had missed during his experiments of electron
tunneling in superconductors. All the samples showing the Josephson effect were simply
discarded as having shorts. (from his Nobel Prize speech, 1973) 2
1 Brian Josephson predicted that it should be possible to pass a supercurrent with zero voltage
drop through the oxide barrier when the metals on both sides were superconducting. This is now
called the dc Josephson effect.
2 In 1973, Leo Esaki (USA), Ivar Giaever (USA) and Brian D Josephson (UK) were awarded the
Nobel Prize in Physics by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The official press release reads:
"The award is for their discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in solids. Half of the prize is
divided equally between Esaki and Giaever for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling
phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors respectively. The other half is awarded to
Josephson for his theoretical predictions of properties in a supercurrent flowing through a tunnel
barrier, in particular the phenomena generally known as the Josephson effects. [...]"
3