Heike Kamerlingh Onnes was born on 21 September 1853 inGroningen, Netherlands, the son of Harm Kamerlingh Onnes, a brickworks owner, and Anna Gerdina Coers ofArnhem.[5]
In 1878, Kamerlingh Onnes became an assistant toJohannes Bosscha, the Director of theDelft Polytechnic, for whom he substituted as a lecturer in 1881 and 1882.[5] From 1882 to 1923, he was Professor of Experimental Physics atLeiden University. In 1904, he founded a largecryogenics laboratory, and invited other researchers to the location—which made him highly regarded in the scientific community. The laboratory is now known as the Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory.[5]
Kamerlingh Onnes died on 21 February 1926 inLeiden at the age of 72.
On 10 July 1908, Kamerlingh Onnes was the first to liquefyhelium, using several pre-cooling stages and theHampson–Linde cycle based on theJoule–Thomson effect. This way he lowered the temperature to theboiling point of helium (−269 °C, 4.2 K). By reducing the pressure of the liquid helium, he achieved a temperature near 1.5 K; this was thelowest temperature recorded on Earth at the time. The equipment employed is at theMuseum Boerhaave in Leiden.
Kamerlingh Onnes received widespread recognition for this work, including the 1913Nobel Prize in Physics "for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led,inter alia, to the production ofliquid helium."[6]
For further research on low-temperature, Kamerlingh Onnes needed large amounts of helium. This he obtained in 1911 fromWelsbach's company, which processedthorianite to producethorium forgas mantles. Helium is produced as a side product. Previously, he obtained helium from processingmonazite, and used the processed monazite (which still contained thorium) to trade for the helium. On earth, helium is usually found in coexistence with radioactive material, since it is a product ofradioactive decay.[7]
In 1911, Kamerlingh Onnes measured the electrical conductivity of pure metals (mercury, and latertin andlead) at very low temperatures. Some scientists, such asLord Kelvin, believed thatelectrons flowing through aconductor would come to a complete halt or, in other words, metal resistivity would become infinitely large at absolute zero. Others, including Kamerlingh Onnes, felt that a conductor'selectrical resistance would steadily decrease and drop to nil.Augustus Matthiessen said that when the temperature decreases, the metal conductivity usually improves or in other words, theelectrical resistivity usually decreases with a decrease of temperature.[8][9]
On 8 April 1911, Kamerlingh Onnes found that at 4.2 K the resistance in a solid mercury wire immersed in liquid helium suddenly vanished. He immediately realized the significance of the discovery (as became clear when his notebook was deciphered a century later).[10] He reported that "Mercury has passed into a new state, which on account of its extraordinary electrical properties may be called the superconductive state". He published more articles about the phenomenon, initially referring to it as "supraconductivity", and later adopting the modern-day term "superconductivity". On the same day he noted that "Just before the lowest temperature [about 1.8 K] was reached, the boiling suddenly stopped and was replaced by evaporation in which liquid visibly shrank" which was the first observation ofsuperfluidity of the surrounding helium bath.[11]
In 1887, Kamerlingh Onnes married Maria Adriana Wilhelmina Elisabeth Bijleveld, with whom he had one child, named Albert. His brother, Menso Kamerlingh Onnes (1860–1925), was a painter and the father of another painter,Harm Kamerlingh Onnes. Their sister, Jenny, marriedFloris Verster (1861–1927), also a painter.[citation needed]
Some of the instruments Kamerlingh Onnes devised for his experiments can be seen at theBoerhaave Museum in Leiden. The apparatus he used to first liquefy helium is on display in the lobby of the physics department atLeiden University, where the low-temperature lab is also named in his honor. His student and successor as director of the labWillem Hendrik Keesom was the first person who was able to solidify helium, in 1926. The former Kamerlingh Onnes laboratory building is currently the Law Faculty at Leiden University and is known as "Kamerlingh Onnes Gebouw" (Kamerlingh Onnes Building), often shortened to "KOG". The current science faculty has a "Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium" named after him, as well as a plaque and several machines used by Kamerling Onnes in the main hall of the physics department.
Kamerlingh Onnes, H., "Further experiments with liquid helium. C. On the change of electric resistance of pure metals at very low temperatures, etc. IV. The resistance of pure mercury at helium temperatures."Comm. Phys. Lab. Univ. Leiden; No. 120b, 1911.
Kamerlingh Onnes, H., "Further experiments with liquid helium. D. On the change of electric resistance of pure metals at very low temperatures, etc. V. The disappearance of the resistance of mercury."Comm. Phys. Lab. Univ. Leiden; No. 122b, 1911.
Kamerlingh Onnes, H., "Further experiments with liquid helium. G. On the electrical resistance of pure metals, etc. VI. On the sudden change in the rate at which the resistance of mercury disappears."Comm. Phys. Lab. Univ. Leiden; No. 124c, 1911.
Kamerlingh Onnes, H., "On the Lowest Temperature Yet Obtained."Comm. Phys. Lab. Univ. Leiden; No. 159, 1922.
^Sengers, Johanna Levelt:How Fluids Unmix: Discoveries by the School of Van der Waals and Kamerlingh Onnes. (Edita—the Publishing House of the Royal, 2002, 318 pp)
^Howard, Irmgard (2002). "H Is for Enthalpy, Thanks to Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and Alfred W. Porter".Journal of Chemical Education.79 (6): 697.Bibcode:2002JChEd..79..697H.doi:10.1021/ed079p697.
Levelt-Sengers, J. M. H.,How fluids unmix : discoveries by the School of Van der Waals and Kamerlingh Onnes. Amsterdam, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, 2002.ISBN90-6984-357-9.
Onnes, Heike Kamerlingh (1991). Gavroglu, Kostas; Goudaroulis, Yorgos (eds.).Through Measurement to Knowledge : The Selected Papers of Heike Kamerlingh Onnes 1853-1926. Dordrecht: Springer.ISBN0-7923-0825-5.
International Institute of Refrigeration (First International Commission),Rapports et communications issus du Laboratoire Kamerlingh Onnes. International Congress of Refrigeration (7th; 1936; La Hauge), Amsterdam, 1936.
