High Temperature Superconductor and Me

Ruling Meng, the author, is an exceptional scientist from Texas Center for Superconductivity at University of Houston. This autobiography describes her colorful life in detail, with high-temperature superconductivity research as the through line from beginning to end. The book is divided in two parts. The first illustrates the fierce competition in high-temperature superconducting material research during the 80s and 90s, when many scientists worldwide were racing to find the hottest superconductors. Meng was a famous and important participant in this historic competition. The second part vividly records the author's tireless pursuit of the value of life, recalling her journey from young girl to respected scientist. Rich in content and fascinating detail, this book is well worth reading.AcknowledgementI am most indebted to my dear friend, Jianjun Zeng, who encouraged me to embark on the adventure of writing a book in Chinese and then in English. She always had time to talk through a point, an idea, or the form and content. Without her numerous hours of editing, this book would not be possible.I am also indebted to my dear friend, Zihong Zhang, who as a copy editor did many iterations of the content and form to make them fit for publication. This book would not be possible without his tremendous contributions.My thanks also go to Professor David Ross for his meticulous proof reading of the English texts and to Mr. William Nisbett and Professor Wei Li for their translations.My family has been part of the journey from the beginning. My dedication to research coincided with the formative years of my son and my daughter. I regret that I did not spend enough time with them when I was working long hours at the lab. My life story would be different without their understanding and support. Ruling MengRuling Meng, the author, was graduated from Zhongnan Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (now Central South University of Technology) in 1958. She engaged in material research and development at the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and the Institute of Physics from Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 1979, she was invited by Professor C.W. Paul Chu of University of Houston to conduct research on superconducting materials. She was one of the main contributors to the discovery of yttrium-barium-copper-oxygen high-temperature superconductors in 1986. In 2000, she was selected by the American Institute of Scientific Information as one of the 1,000 scientists with the highest citation rate of scientific research papers among 500,000 scientific paper authors.