The following year he submitted an essay on vapor density and won first prize in a contest sponsored by the University of Utrecht. In October 1871, Kamerlingh Onnes transferred to the University of Heidelberg in Germany, where he was taught by the eminent German chemist Robert Wilhelm Bunsen . He was one of only two students allowed to work in the private laboratory of German physicist Gustav Robert Kirchhoff. In April 1873, he returned to the University of Groningen, where he spent the next five years studying for his doctorate.
In 1878, Kamerlingh Onnes moved to Delft Polytechnic where he became an assistant to the professor of physics there. In 1879 he travelled to Groningen to defend his thesis, entitled "New Proof of the Earth's Rotation." He was awarded his physics doctorate magna cum laude. At Delft Polytechnic, Kamerlingh Onnes composed a paper on the general theory of fluids from the perspective of kinetic theory. He soon realized though that such a general theory of the nature of fluids required accurate measurements of volume, pressure, and temperature over as wide a range of values as possible. To this end, he turned his attention to the problem of attaining and maintaining very low temperatures.
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