Heike Kamerlingh Onnes began his research trying to discover the effects that
temperatures nearing zero degrees Kelvin have on elements. Through this he discovered that
when Mercury is cooled to roughly 4 Kelvin its electrical resistance seems to disappear.
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes was born in Groningen, The Netherlands on September 21st,
1853. His father, Harm Kamerlingh Onnes, was the owner of a local brickworks near Groningen
and his mother was Anna Gerdina Coers, the daughter of an architect. He began his schooling at
Hoogere Burgerschool in his home town. At the age of 17 he enrolled at the University of
Groningen. Within a year he obtained the equivalent of his bachelor of science and then went
to Heidelberg as a student of Bunsen and Kirchoff. He obtained the equivalent of his Masters of
science in 1879 with a thesis on, “New proofs of the rotation of the earth.” In 1878 he became
an assistant at the Polytechnicum at Delft, working under Bosscha. He later replaced Bosscha
later taking the place as the Professor of Experimental Physics and Meteorology at Leyden.
Kamerlingh Onnes was most known for his discovery of superconductors.
Superconductors are elements that are super cooled, allowing the property of zero electrical
resistance to become apparent. Kamerlingh Onnes started his research working with the kinetic
theory of the liquid state, this lead to the beginning of his life-long investigations into the
properties of elements at extremely low temperatures. After he was appointed the Physics
chair at Leyden he reorganized the laboratory to fit his own researches. During this he had in
mind the creation of a cryogenic lab which would allow him to verify Van der Waals law of
corresponding states over a large range of temperatures. He then focused his energy on
reaching extremely low temperatures. his first break through was the liquefaction of helium at
0.9 Kelvin, at that point this was the closest to absolute zero Kelvin that anyone had come. For
his ability to bring the temperature this low he was awarded the Nobel Prize. He then
continued his research with near zero Kelvin temperatures, finding more and more ways to
contributed to them both. I still believe that I need to elaborate more on how exactly
superconductivity works