Heike kamerlingh onnes biography template
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes
An important step on the way to this discovery was his success in producing liquid helium, a feat that enabled scientists to achieve colder experimental conditions than previously possible. Kamerlingh Onnes won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1913 for his work with low temperatures that led to the liquefying of helium.
A native of Groningen, The Netherlands, Kamerlingh Onnes was born on September 21, 1853. His father owned a factory and helped instill a strong work ethic in his son. When he was 17, Kamerlingh Onnes enrolled at Groningen University. There he studied chemistry and physics, quickly distinguishing himself. In 1871, a treatise he composed on vapor density garnered first prize in a University of Utrecht competition; the next year he submitted an essay to a contest at the University of Groningen that received second prize. Also in 1871, the budding scientist traveled to Germany to study at the University of Heidelberg. There he gained a firm foundation in experimentation in the laboratory of renowned physicist Gustav Robert Kirchhoff, and had the further opportunity of studying with chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen.
Kamerlingh Onnes returned to The Netherlands in 1873 to begin work on a doctoral degree in physics at Groningen. He received it in 1879 following the defense of his thesis, which offered new theoretical and experimental evidence for the Earth’s rotation. Kamerlingh Onnes began an assistantship at Delft Polytechnic in 1878. Four years later the University of Leiden offered him a position as chair of the experimental physics department. The new post included directorship of the school’s physical laboratory, allowing Kamerlingh Onnes nearly complete freedom in his research. His interest in low-temperature physics inspired him to reorganize and reequip the lab to be a state-of-the-art center for cryogenic investigations. He considered cryogenics an important means of verifying J. D. Van der Waals' law of corresponding stat Presentation Speech by former Councillor Th. Nordstrom, President of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, on December 10, 1913 Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Ladies and Gentlemen. At its meeting on the 11th November the Royal Academy of Sciences decided to award the Nobel Prize for Physics for the year 1913 to Dr. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Professor at the University of Leyden “for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led, inter alia, to the production of liquid helium”. As early as 100 years ago research into the behaviour of gases at various pressures and temperatures gave a great impetus to physics. Since this time the study of the connection between the pressure, the volume and the temperature of gases has played a very important part in physics, and particularly in thermodynamics – one of the most important disciplines of modern physics. In the years 1873 and 1880 Van der Waals presented his famous laws governing gases which, owing to their great importance for thermodynamics, were rewarded by the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1910 with the Nobel Prize for Physics. The thermodynamic laws of Van der Waals were laid down on atheoretical basis under the assumption that certain properties could be attributed to molecules and molecular forces. In the case of gases the properties of which are changed by pressure and temperature, or in one way or another do not agree with Van der Waals’ hypothesis, deviations from these laws occur. A systematic experimental study of these deviations and the changes they undergo due to temperature and the molecular structure of the gas must therefore contribute greatly to our knowledge of the properties of the molecules and of the phenomena associated with them. It was for this research that Kamerlingh Onnes set up his famous laboratory at the beginning of the 1880’s, and in it he designed and improved, with unusual Dates September 21, 1853 – February 21, 1926 Authorized Form of Name Kamerlingh Onnes, Heike, 1853-1926 Additional Forms of Names Onnes, Heike Kamerlingh, 1853-1926 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes was a physicist at Leiden University, specializing in superconductivity. He was awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led, inter alia, to the production of liquid helium." September 21, 1853Birth, Groningen (Netherlands). 1871Obtained BSc in Physics, University of Groningen (Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen), Groningen (Netherlands). 1873Obtained Masters degree in Physics, University of Groningen (Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen), Groningen (Netherlands). 1878Assistant, Delft University of Technology (Technische Hogeschool Delft), Delft (Netherlands). 1879Obtained PhD in Physics, University of Groningen (Rijksuniversiteit te Groningen), Groningen (Netherlands). 1882 – 1923Professor of Experimental Physics and Meteorology, University of Leiden (Rijksuniversiteit te Leiden), Leiden (Netherlands). 1883Member, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen. 1910Awarded Matteucci Medal. 1912Awarded Rumford Medal, Royal Society. 1913Awarded Nobel Prize in Physics "for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led, inter alia, to the production of liquid helium". 1915Awarded Franklin Medal, Franklin Institute. February 21, 1926Death, Leiden (Netherlands). Superconductivity. Groningen (Netherlands) Groningen (Netherlands) Groningen (Netherlands) Delft (Netherlands) Leiden (Netherlands) Leiden (Netherlands) Low temperature research. Superconductivity. Bemmelen, W. van (Willem), 1868- Advised by Kamerlingh Onnes Heike Kamerlingh-Onnes (Groningen, September 21, 1853 – Leiden, February 21, 1921) Dutch physicist and Nobel Prize winner, was born on September 21, 1853 in the city of Groeningen. He studied at the University of Heidelberg, where he was a student of the German physicists Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff, and received his doctorate at the University of Groningen in 1879. From 1878 to 1882 he was a professor at the Delft Polytechnic. He subsequently gave up the post to become professor of physics at the University of Leiden, until he retired in 1923. Heike Kamerlingh-Onnes is known for his work in cryogenics, that is, the study of the effects of extremely low temperatures on different elements. Thus, in 1908 he achieved the liquefaction of helium. He studied the effects of extreme cold on numerous gases and metals. This led him, in 1911, to discover the almost total absence of resistance to the passage of electricity in certain substances at temperatures above absolute zero, a phenomenon known as superconductivity. The discovery is said to have occurred when he asked a student to measure the electrical resistance of mercury, and the student returned with the news that the resistance of the metal mysteriously disappeared when the temperature of the sample reached 4.2K (-269ºC). After repeating the experience several times, they came to the conclusion that they had made a historic discovery. Since then, superconductivity has had important applications. For example, superconductors are used to make magnets used in particle accelerators (devices used, among other things, to study subatomic particles such as electrons and protons) and in magnetic resonance spectroscopy systems used in hospitals. In 1913 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics. Heike Kamerlingh-Onnes died in Leiden on February 21, 1926.Heike Kamerlingh Onnes - 1913 recipient of Nobel Prize in Physics
Physics History Network
Abstract
Important Dates
Occupation
Places
Birth
Undergraduate Education
Graduate Education
Employment
Death
Subjects
People
Advisors & Collaborators
Heike Kamerlingh-Onnes, discoverer of superconductivity