Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Biography

Questions on this topic? Just ask!

World of Scientific Discovery on Heike Kamerlingh Onnes

Kamerlingh Onnes was born on September 21, 1853, in Groningen, the Netherlands. He entered the University of Groningen in 1870, but interrupted his studies in 1872 to spend three semesters at the University of Heidelberg. There he studied with Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff. In April 1873, Kamerlingh Onnes returned to Groningen to complete his studies, earning a doctorate in 1879.

In 1878, Kamerlingh Onnes accepted a teaching position at the Polytechnic School at Delft. While there, he came into contact with Johannes van der Walls, from whom he learned about current problems related to the molecular theory of matter. Van der Waals was to remain an important influence on Kamerlingh Onnes's career.

In 1882, Kamerlingh Onnes was appointed professor of physics at the University of Leiden. He remained in that position for the next forty-two years. During that period, Kamerlingh Onnes made the Cryogenic Laboratory at Leiden the center of low-temperature research in the world. He chose this field of research because of his interest in studying van der Waals' theories over as wide a range of temperatures as possible.

The first problem that Kamerlingh Onnes encountered in carrying out low temperature research was the lack of devices and techniques for producing temperatures near absolute zero (0° K). Important ground had been broken in 1877 by the French physicist Louis Paul Cailletet and the Swiss chemist Pictet, who had been the first to liquify air. Kamerlingh Onnes used procedures similar to those of Cailletet and Pictet to liquify large quantities of air and to liquify hydrogen (boiling point = 20.4 ° K) in 1906 and helium (boiling point = 4.2 ° K) in 1908.

In his work with liquid helium, Kamerlingh Onnes discovered a new form of the element, helium-II, that exists only near absolute zero. He found that helium-II is a superfluid, that is, that it has zero viscosity and is able to flow even more freely than does a gas.

A topic of special interest to Kamerlingh Onnes was the study of the electrical resistance of metals at very low temperatures. He began this research with the assumption that resistance would increase as a metal's temperature decreases, reaching a maximum at or near absolute zero. However, his research produced a different and quite surprising result. In 1911, he found that the electrical resistance of certain metals suddenly decreases, reaching zero, at temperatures close to absolute zero. Kamerlingh Onnes called this phenomenon supraconductivity, a term later changed to superconductivity.

For his research on low temperature phenomena, particularly his liquefaction of helium, Kamerlingh Onnes received the 1913 Nobel Prize in physics.

Kamerlingh Onnes was also interested in the practical applications of his low temperature research. He studied methods of using refrigeration, for example, to transport and store foods. He died in Leiden on February 21, 1926.