In 1997 Emery gave the 326th Brookhaven lecture, entitled 'High Temperature Superconductors – The First Ten Years' illustrating his points with simple, non-technical terms. He explained how key experiments at BNL had led to deeper insights into the atomic structure and forces of electricity and magnetism, that underlie the mechanisms of high-temperature superconductivity. To give an example of the Meissner effect, one part of his basic research, he showed how a 200-kilogram Japanese Sumo wrestler could float inches off the ground on a thin magnet.