Unsung Dutch Hero
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes studied under two well-known “Giants”, Robert Bunsen (1811-99) and Gustav Kirchhoff (1824-77) at the University of Heidelberg from 1871 to 1873. I must digress here and discuss Kirchoff with his circuit laws that I recall using as a young undergraduate Mathematics and Physics student. His so-called first law states that for any node (point in a circuit):
The algebraic sum of currents in a network of conductors meeting at a point is zero.
Shaping of Modern Physics
This is a conservation law in Physics (in this case of charge) and whenever I read about conservation laws in Physics I am always instantly reminded of one of the greatest ever female Mathematicians/Physicists in this case of E.Noether (1882-35) who was taught by other “Giants” of Mathematics in Göttingen Germany when Göttingen was the centre and powerhouse of Mathematics and Physics in the world and which during its history can boast the presence of Gauss (1777-55), Dirichlet (1805-55), Hilbert (1862-43) and Minkowski (1864-09) who by the way called Einstein (1879-55) “an idle dog” due to his lack of participation during his lectures.
In fact, Noether explained facets of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity to Hilbert and Klein (1849-25). She also made huge contributions to the Calculus of Variations, which I am fortunate to introduce at UCL on a second-year Mathematical Economics module that I deliver and which includes the application of the Euler-Lagrange equation.
Discovering Superconductivity
Returning to Onnes, he discovered superconductivity which essentially is the flow of electric charge in which there is an almost complete disappearance of resistance and occurs at temperatures near absolute zero 0K, the temperature of occurrence we call the characteristic temperature. For this work, Onnes was awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physics. Onnes was also greatly influenced by Van der Waals (1837-23), who derived the equation of state for real fluids, and this equation approximates the behaviour of real fluids (in which viscous forces are present) above their critical temperatures.
Further Contributions to Physics
Onnes was also influenced by another one of his compatriots, Hendrik Lorentz (1853-28), and scholars today admit that Lorentz, as well as Poincaré (1854-12) developed the Mathematics of Special Relativity, and originally the theory was referred to as the “Lorentz–Einstein theory”, but it is argued that it was Einstein who eliminated the classical ether and demonstrated the relativity of space and time taking further Newton’s (1643-27) and Galileo’s (1564-42) ideas in these respective areas. I recall reading about Poincare as an undergraduate when I realized that he was responsible for advancing the theories associated with perturbations and chaos, disciplines that I became very interested in as a graduate student.
Alas, I have run out of space again. Until next time, “old friend”.
