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 Heike //Kamerlingh Onnes// (Hahy-kuh kahmuhr-ling awnuhs)

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Heike Kammerlingh Onnes was born on September 21,1853 in the small city of Groningen which is in the northwestern Netherlands. His father owned a brickworks nearby and his mother was the daughter of an architect. By the young age of 16 he was already known for his science in his small hometown. It was not this that propelled his name to a greater heighst, it was his works with cold temperatures and the discoveries that he made because of it.

Onnes' Early Years of Science

When Onnes was just 18 his talents became apparent. In 1871 at this young age he received a gold medal for an event that was sponsored by the //Natural Sciences Faculty of the University of Utrecht//. The next year Onnes won a silver medal in a similar competition. However, what really got him started in his later discoveries was a simple paper he published in 1881. The paper was titled //Algemeene Theorie der Vloeistoffen// (General Therory of Liquids). The paper explained the kinetic theory of the liquid state. This work is said to have begun his life-long investigation into the world of matter at a low temperature. To continue his pursuit of study Onnes gained a laboratory through his employment at a school he taught at. He married Maria Adriana Wilhelmina Elisabeth Bijleveld in 1887. He then transformed the school's laboratory into a cryogenic laboratory. By 1892 his apparatus was ready for the liquification of gases in large quantities. From 1895 to 1906 he perfected cryogenic experimental techniques and studied metals and fluids at low temperatures.

Discoveries

Discovery is what every scientist lives for. It is what they are remembered for. Onnes was no different when he created liquid helium. He was elated when he first saw the liquid on the 10th of July, 1908. He was even happier, however, when he showed it to one of his close friends who had helped him with the process. During the liquification the temperature was dropped to a mere 0.9 degrees Kelvin making it the lowest temperature known to date. With the creation of liquid heluim Heike Kamerlingh Onnes won the Noble Prize in physics in 1913.

The scientist also had another important discovery. It was the discovery of [|superconductivity] as he coined it. He found that after he distilled mercury to its pure form and cooled it to a frigid 4.2 degrees Kelvin it lost all electrical resistance. This created an effect of almost being attached with no attaching piece. The two different metals that are super conducted move as one but are not connected.



Away From Science Outside of his studies, Kammerlingh Onnes loved to spend time with his family and help those who needed it. Even though his work was his hobby, he was far from being a pompous scholar. He was in fact a charming man, and he was very active during and after the World War One in ironing out the differences between scientific politics and in helping starving children in other countries suffering from food shortage. Kammerlingh Onnes passed away from illness on February 21, 1926 at the age of 73. His mark on the science world will not be forgotten. We see his achievements everyday in something we take for granted such as a refrigerator, or less commonly in something as complex as the first laws of superconductivity.

Memorable Quotes "According to my views, aiming at quantitative investigations, that is at establishing relations between measurements of phenomena, should take first place  in the experimental practice of physics. By measurement to knowledge [door meten tot weter] I should like to write as a motto above the entrance of every physics laboratory." "Thus the mercury at 4.2 Kelvin has entered a new state, which, owing to its particular electrical properties, can be called the state of superconductivity." Works Cited

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Biography - World Famous Biographies- Biographies of famous people : Famous People biography."//Biography - World Famous Biographies- Biographies of famous people : Famous People biography//. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. . "Heike Kamerlingh Onnes - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia." //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. .

"Liquid helium | Ask.com Encyclopedia." //Ask.com - What's Your Question?//. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. .

"Superconductivity: Theory & Uses | SchoolWorkHelper." //School Work Helper//. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. .

scientists, inventors, and more.. "Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Quotes - Science Quotes - Dictionary of Science Quotations and Scientist Quotes." //Today In Science History//. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. .