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The centenary of the first liquefaction of helium.

Author(s) : SCURLOCK R. G.

Summary

This paper marks 2008 as the Centenary Year since the first liquefaction of helium. On 10th July 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.

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Pages: 2008-1

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Details

  • Original title: The centenary of the first liquefaction of helium.
  • Record ID : 2008-1820
  • Languages: English
  • Source: Cryogenics 2008. Proceedings of the 10th IIR International Conference
  • Publication date: 2008/04/21

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