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The centenary of the first liquefaction of helium.

Setna rocznica pierwszego skroplenia helu.

Author(s) : SCURLOCK R. G.

Type of article: Article

Summary

This article is a Polish translation of a review article published in n. 2008-6 of the Bulletin of the IIR (see reference 2009-0891). This paper presented at Cryogenics 2008 marks 2008 as the Centenary Year since the first liquefaction of helium. On July 10, 1908, Professor Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and his team first liquefied helium at his Cryogenic Laboratory, University of Leiden, The Netherlands. Before describing this liquefaction event, the paper discusses the considerable difficulties Kamerlingh Onnes had to overcome in achieving his success. In contrast to his rivals, Dewar and Olszewski, he adopted the first ever "big science" approach to build up a large laboratory at Leiden, with the extensive infra-structure and expertise needed for his attempt. He also had a strong working relationship, through his experimental measurements on the low temperature properties of gases, with theoretical physicist Van der Waals at the University of Amsterdam. A brief chronology outlines how Kamerlingh Onnes's success in liquefying helium helped to open the "door" from the classical physics of the 19th century into the new scientific world of macroscopic quantum physics of the 20th century.

Details

  • Original title: Setna rocznica pierwszego skroplenia helu.
  • Record ID : 2009-2184
  • Languages: Polish
  • Source: Chlodnictwo - vol. 44 - n. 3
  • Publication date: 2009/03

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