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A signed Portrait of Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Photo sourced from

Top 10 Sensational Facts about Heike Kamerlingh Onnes

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes was a Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate. He exploited the Hampson–Linde cycle to investigate how materials behave when cooled to nearly absolute zero and later to liquefy helium for the first time, in 1908.

He also discovered superconductivity in 1911.Let’s take a look at some of the most sensational facts about him;

1.Kamerlingh Onnes was born in Groningen, Netherlands

Kamerlingh Onnes was born in Groningen, Netherlands. His father, Harm Kamerlingh Onnes, was a brickworks owner. His mother was Anna Gerdina Coers of Arnhem.In 1870, Kamerlingh Onnes attended the University of Groningen. He studied under Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff at the University of Heidelberg from 1871 to 1873.

Again at Groningen, he obtained his master’s degree in 1878 and a doctorate in 1879. From 1878 to 1882 he was assistant to Johannes Bosscha, the director of the Delft Polytechnic, for whom he substituted as lecturer in 1881 and 1882.

2.He served as professor of experimental physics at the University of Leiden

Prof. dr. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes in 1926 Photo sourced from

From 1882 to 1923 Kamerlingh Onnes served as professor of experimental physics at the University of Leiden. In 1904 he founded a very large cryogenics laboratory and invited other researchers to the location, which made him highly regarded in the scientific community.

The laboratory is known now as Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory.Only one year after his appointment as professor he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was one of the key professors in that time. 

3.He was the first person to liquefy helium

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes at his liquefactor Photo sourced from

On 10 July 1908, he was the first to liquefy helium, using several precooling stages and the Hampson–Linde cycle based on the Joule–Thomson effect. This way he lowered the temperature to the boiling point of helium (−269 °C, 4.2 K).

By reducing the pressure of the liquid helium he achieved a temperature near 1.5 K. These were the coldest temperatures achieved on earth at the time. The equipment employed is at the Museum Boerhaave in Leiden. 

4.He discovered superconductivity

In 1911 Kamerlingh Onnes measured the electrical conductivity of pure metals (mercury, and later tin and lead) at very low temperatures. Some scientists, such as William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), believed that electrons flowing through a conductor would come to a complete halt or, in other words, metal resistivity would become infinitely large at absolute zero.

Others, including Kamerlingh Onnes, felt that a conductor’s electrical resistance would steadily decrease and drop to nil. Augustus Matthiessen said that when the temperature decreases, the metal conductivity usually improves or in other words, the electrical resistivity usually decreases with a decrease of temperature. 

5.He wrote and published several articles on his work

On 8 April 1911, Kamerlingh Onnes found that at 4.2 K the resistance in a solid mercury wire immersed in liquid helium suddenly vanished. He immediately realized the significance of the discovery (as became clear when his notebook was deciphered a century later).

He reported that “Mercury has passed into a new state, which on account of its extraordinary electrical properties may be called the superconductive state”. He published more articles about the phenomenon, initially referring to it as “supraconductivity” and, only later adopting the term “superconductivity”.

6.Kamerlingh Onnes received widespread recognition for his work

Kamerlingh Onnes received widespread recognition for his work, including the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physics for where the committee praised him for his investigations on the properties of matter at low temperatures which led, inter alia, to the production of liquid helium. 

He also received several other awards including; Matteucci Medal (1910), Rumford Medal (1912), Franklin Medal (1915). Most of this awards, he received were for his contribution to several fields across the world. 

7.Some of the instruments he devised for his experiments have been preserved in museums

Some of the instruments Kamerlingh Onnes devised for his experiments can be seen at the Boerhaave Museum in Leiden. The apparatus he used to first liquefy helium is on display in the lobby of the physics department at Leiden University, where the low-temperature lab is also named in his honor.

His student and successor as director of the lab Willem Hendrik Keesom was the first person who was able to solidify helium, in 1926. The former Kamerlingh Onnes laboratory building is currently the Law Faculty at Leiden University and is known as “Kamerlingh Onnes Gebouw” (Kamerlingh Onnes Building), often shortened to “KOG”.

8.Kamerlingh Onnes has several places and facilities named after him in his honor

The current science faculty has a “Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratorium” named after him, as well as a plaque and several machines used by Kamerling Onnes in the main hall of the physics department.The Kamerlingh Onnes Award (1948) and the Kamerlingh Onnes Prize (2000) were established in his honour, recognising further advances in low-temperature science.

The Onnes effect referring to the creeping of superfluid helium is named in his honor.The crater Kamerlingh Onnes on the Moon is named after him.Onnes is also credited with coining the word “enthalpy”.Onnes’s discovery of superconductivity was named an IEEE Milestone in 2011.

9.He was married to Maria Adriana Wilhelmina Elisabeth Bijleveld

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and his bride Betsy Bijleveld, September 1887 Photo sourced from

He was married to Maria Adriana Wilhelmina Elisabeth Bijleveld 1887). Maria Adriana Wilhelmina Elisabeth Bijleveld, was a great help to him in these activities and created a home widely known for its hospitality. They had one son, Albert, who became a high-ranking civil servant at The Hague.

His brother Menso Kamerlingh Onnes (1860–1925) was a painter (and father of another painter, Harm Kamerlingh Onnes), while his sister Jenny married another painter, Floris Verster (1861–1927).

10.He died aged 73 in Leyden

Born on September 21, 1853.Kamerlingh Onnes’ health had always been somewhat delicate, and after a long and ful career, Kamerlingh Onnes retired from the University of Leiden in 1923. He fell ill in 1926 and died on February 21 of that year. He died at Leyden aged 73 years. 

Although the Nobel Prize may be considered his highest honor, his legacy can be found anywhere in the world where cryogenic investigations are carried out or superconductors are used. Kamerlingh Onnes received a wide variety of other prestigious awards and tributes. 

Moreover, Kamerlingh Onnes’ interest in finding ways that his cryogenic research could be put to practical use inspired him to co-found the International Institute of Refrigeration.