Prof. John R. Clem
      
Distinguished Professor of Physics
Iowa State University, Iowa, U.S.A.
   Birth Date: April 24, 1938
   B.S. 1960;  M.S. 1962; Ph.D. 1965, University of Illinois
      1965-66       Research Associate, University of Maryland
      1966-67       Visiting Research Fellow, Technical University,
                    Munich, Germany
      1967-present  Iowa State University
      1967-present  Ames Laboratory, Iowa, U.S.A.
      1982-85       Chairman, Physics, Iowa State University
      1974-75       Fulbright Professor, KFA Julich, Germany
      1985-86       Visiting Scientist, IBM Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights
      1992-93       Visiting Professor of Applied Physics, Stanford University and
                    Visiting Scientist, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto

How and Why I Became a Scientist: From Toys to Superconductivity

In this talk, I will tell about how and why I became a scientist. From my childhood until the present, I have had a lot of fun solving puzzles and learning how things work. I will tell about some of my favorite toys as a child, and I also will tell why I think superconductivity, currently my favorite topic, is fun. Live demonstrations, provided by scientists from the Superconductivity Research Laboratory, ISTEC, will illustrate some of the fascinating properties of superconductors.