Physicist — Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (Groningen, 1853 – Leiden, 1926) was a Dutch physicist, professor at the University of Leiden, where he founded a celebrated laboratory dedicated to low-temperature physics. In 1908 he was the first to liquefy helium, reaching temperatures close to absolute zero and opening up a new field of research. In 1911, while studying the electrical resistance of mercury at very low temperatures, he discovered superconductivity: below a critical temperature the metal’s resistance disappears entirely. This discovery revealed a macroscopic quantum phenomenon that would only be understood theoretically decades later. For his research on the properties of matter at low temperatures he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1913.
Trivia
The motto of his laboratory was “Door meten tot weten”, meaning “through measurement to knowledge”, underlining his absolute faith in accurate experimental measurement.
Theories and contributions
- Superconductivity — Below a critical temperature the electrical resistance of certain metals vanishes completely.
- Liquefaction of helium — First achievement of temperatures close to absolute zero (about ), turning helium into a liquid.
Present in chapters
Linked atoms
2 linked atoms.