Heike Kamerlingh Onnes: Master of Experimental Technique and Quantitative Research

Abstract

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes , born a century and a half ago, was a major protagonist in the so-called Second Golden Age of Dutch Science. He devoted his career to the emerging field of low-temperature physics. His particular concern was to test the theories of his older compatriot Johannes Diderik van der Waals (1837-1923) by creating a style of research that was characterized by meticulous planning, precise measurement, and constant improvement of techniques and instruments. He made numerous contributions to low-temperature physics, but I focus on his liquefaction of helium, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics for 1913, and on his discovery of superconductivity. He became known internationally as le gentleman du zéro absolu.

Generative Role of Experiments in Physics and in Teaching Physics: A Suggestion for Epistemological Reconstruction

“…Experiments, which are based on careful theoretical analysis of instrumentation, but are still creative and imaginative, are found in works by many leading experimentalists of the 20th century; good examples are, for example, Kamerlingh-Onnes (Reif-Acherman 2004) and Millikan (van Fraassen 1980;Hacking 1983). The similar character of experiments also became the hallmark of large institutionalised laboratories such as the Cavendish laboratory, Cambridge (Kim 2002), the Physikalisch-Technische Reichanstalt, Berlin (Heidelberger 1998) and the Ryerson Physical laboratory, Chicago (Hacking 1983).…”

“…It has also been used in a somewhat modified form in the planning of laboratory works for school teaching Lavonen et al 2004). Consequently, 2001-2004 the epistemological reconstruction based on the generative role of experiments has been used in several concrete cases in different exercises, for example in illustrating the formation of concepts and in the production of laws. An example of the teaching sequence based on the reconstruction, in the case of the induction law, is outlined in Table II.…”

Liquefaction of gases and discovery of superconductivity: two very closely scientific achievements in low temperature physics

“…Kamerlingh Onnes, by his side, had a very different motivation and philosophy [12]. The study of the general character of the influence of low temperatures on different properties of matter was his main objective.…”

Can Anyon Statistics Explain High Temperature Superconductivity?

“…In a superconductor, the resistance drops suddenly to zero when the material is cooled below its critical temperature. This phenomena was first discovered by the dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, which received the Nobel prize of physics in 1913 for discovering this phenomena and the related work regarding liquefaction of helium [1]. There is another phenomena related to superconductor called (Meissner effect), which is the expulsion of a magnetic field from a superconductor during its transition to the superconducting state.…”