La conquête du froid absolu (video/DVD).

The Race for Absolute Zero [vidéo/DVD].

Type of monograph: Video

Summary

This documentary, a scientific thriller, is a 96-mn British programme in its French version, broadcasted by ARTE. Air conditioning, refrigeration and superconductivity are some of the technologies in which refrigeration is involved. But what is refrigeration? How do you achieve low temperatures? And what is the limit? Three questions this adventure film tries to answer, by leading us from the 17th century up until today to explore stimulating free minds. At the Court of James I of England, the inventor of the thermometer, Cornelius von Drebbel turns out to be the improbable grandfather of the latest developments in quantum physics, the developments that made it possible to approach and define the measurement of extreme cold or "absolute zero", i.e. - 273.15ºC. Four scientists lead us, along this fascinating journey through time: Simon Schaffer, historian of science, and the three physicists Eric Cornell, Carl Wieman and Wolfgang Ketterle, who obtained the Nobel Prize for physics in 2001 for having reached a temperature of 1/1 000 000 000 degree away from this Holy Grail of cold seekers. Among their illustrious predecessors, one will discover the unending quarrels between Celsius and Fahrenheit in the measurement of temperatures, the boiling battle of Antoine Lavoisier against his rival Benjamin Rumford to push forward his theory of heat; Michael Faraday's explosive experiments; James Dewar's achievements in chemistry the managed to bring liquefied helium down to -253°C, to his challenger Kamerlingh Onnes' great dismay. But we will also meet Frederic Tudor, a businessman on the other side of the Atlantic, who cut out ice from frozen lakes in order to deliver it to the four corners of the world by boat; or Captain Birdseye's expedition to Labrador, which was to lead to frozen foods in 1912.

Details

Original title: The Race for Absolute Zero [vidéo/DVD].
Record ID : 2008-2377
Languages: French
Publication: Arte france - France/France
Publication date: 2008/05/31
Source: Source: DVD; 95 min. 56 sec.
Document available for consultation in the library of the IIR headquarters only.

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