Willem Hendrik Keesom () (21 June 1876,
Texel – 3 March 1956,
Leiden
Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...
) was a Dutch
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...
who, in 1926, invented a method to freeze liquid
helium
Helium (from el, ἥλιος, helios, lit=sun) is a chemical element with the symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic ta ...
.
He also developed the first mathematical description of
dipole–dipole interactions in 1921. Thus, dipole–dipole interactions are also known as
Keesom interactions.
He was previously a student of
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (21 September 1853 – 21 February 1926) 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 heliu ...
, who had discovered
superconductivity
Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike ...
(a feat for which Kamerlingh Onnes received the 1913
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
in Physics).
He also discovered the
lambda point transition specific-heat maximum between Helium-I and Helium-II in 1930.
In 1924 he became member of the
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...
.
In 1966, the minor planet
''
9686 Keesom'' was named after him.
See also
*
Timeline of low-temperature technology
References
External links
* Albert van Helden
''Willem Hendrik Keesom 1876 – 1956'' In: K. van Berkel, A. van Helden and L. Palm ed., A History of Science in the Netherlands. Survey, Themes and Reference (Leiden: Brill, 1999) 498–500.
* Scientists of the Dutch School
@ Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
* P.H. van Laer
''Keesom, Wilhelmus Hendrikus (1876-1956)'' in Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland.
1876 births
1956 deaths
People from Texel
20th-century Dutch physicists
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
University of Amsterdam alumni
Leiden University faculty
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