Through Measurement to Knowledge

"Tile; D'apC:Tile; l. DpWTa ()coi 7rpo7rapod)w £ D'T}K,mi'. "between us and Goodness the gods have placed the sweat of our brows". This quote from Isiodos, the first lyrical poet, is jotted on a sheet of paper found among the papers of Heike Kamerlingh Onnes at the Boerhaave Museum, Leiden. On this same sheet, one can also read quotes from Schiller, Goethe, Shakespeare, Homer, Pindar and Dante. Each quote is for somebody or something. It appears to have been a game played at least by Ehrenfest and Crommelin -an unmistakable sign of these two physicists's deep culture. This particular quote was for the "Werkplaats", the Physical Laboratory of the University of Leiden. Our purpose in putting together the Selected Papers of its first Director, Kamerlingh Onnes (1853-1926), is to try and articulate the dominant trends of a different type of culture at Leiden: its physics culture during the years that established low temperature physics as a distinct branch of physics. Our aims in choosing the particular papers are threefold. First, we wish to present the interconnectedness among the different research programs of Kamerlingh Onnes and to bring out the decisive role of the work initiated by van der Waals in determining the direction of nearly all of these research programs.

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Selected Papers of H. Kamerlingh Onnes.- A. General.- 1. "On the cryogenic laboratory at Leiden and on the production of very low temperatures".- 2. "The importance of accurate measurements at very low temperatures".- 3. "Further experiments with liquid helium. P. On the lowest temperature yet obtained".- B. Thermodynamic Researches (Equation of State).- 4. "Théorie générale de l'état fluide".- 5. "Remarks on the liquefaction of hydrogen, on thermodynami-cal similarity and on the use of vacuum vessels".- 6. "Expression of the equation of state of gases and liquids by means of series".- 7. "The liquefaction of helium".- 8. "Further experiments with liquid helium. E. A helium cryostat. Remarks on the preceding communications".- 9. "Further experiments with liquid helium. U. (Isotherms of monatomic substances and their binary mixtures. XXIV). Isotherms of helium at 4.2°K and lower" co-authored with J.D.A. Boks.- C. Properties of Liquid Helium.- 10. "Further experiments with liquid helium. A. Isotherms of monatomic gases etc. VIII. Thermal properties of helium".- 11. "Further experiments with liquid helium. V. The variation of density of liquid helium below the boiling point" co-authored with J.D.A. Boks.- 12. "Further experiments with liquid helium. BB. Preliminary determinations of the specific heat of liquid helium" co-authored with L.I. Dana.- D. Electrical Researches.- 13. "On phosphorescence at very low temperatures" co-authored with Henri and Jean Becquerel.- 14. "Further experiments with liquid helium. B. On the change in the resistance of pure metals at very low temperatures, etc. III. The resistance of platinum at very low temperatures".- 15. "Further experiments with liquid helium. C. On the change of electric resistance of pure metals at very low temperatures etc. IV. The resistance of pure mercury at helium temperatures".- 16. "Further experiments with liquid helium. D. On the change of electrical resistance of pure metals at very low temperatures etc. V. The disappearance of the resistance of mercury".- 17. "Further experiments with liquid helium. G. On the electrical resistance of pure metals, etc. VI. On the sudden change in the rate at which the resistance of mercury disappears".- 18. "Further experiments with liquid helium. H. On the electrical resistance of pure metals, etc. VII. The potential difference necessary for the electrical current through mercury below 4.19°K".- 19. "Further experiments with liquid helium. H. On the electrical resistance etc. (continued). VIII. The sudden disappearance of the ordinary resistance of tin, and the superconductive state of lead".- 20. "Further experiments with liquid helium. I. The Hall-effect, and the magnetic change in resistance in supra conductors which are brought into a magnetic field, at low temperatures. IX. The appearance of galvanic resistance at a threshold value of the field".- 21. "Further experiments with liquid helium. J. The imitation of an Ampère molecular current or of a permanent magnet by means of a supra-conductor".- 22. "Further experiments with liquid helium. L. The persistence f current without electromotive force in supraconducting circuits. (Continuation of J)".- 23. "Further experiments with liquid helium. AA. The disturbance of supra-conductivity by magnetic fields and currents. The hypothesis of Silsbee" co-authored with W. Tuyn.- E. Magnetic Researches.- 24. "Researches on magnetization at very low temperatures" co-authored with Pierre Weiss.- 25. "Researches on the magnetization of liquid and solid oxygen" co-authored with Albert Perrier.- 26. "Reseaches on magnetism. III. On para - and dia-magnetism at very low temperatures" co-authored with Albeit Perrier.- 27. "Magnetic investigations. XIII. The susceptibility of liquid mixtures of oxygen and nitrogen, and the influence of the mutual distance of the molecules upon paramagnetism" co-authored with Albert Perrier.- Editors' Notes.- Notes for A1.- Notes for A2.- Notes for A3.- Notes for B4.- Notes for B5.- Notes for B6.- Notes for B7.- Notes for B8.- Notes for B9.- Notes for C10.- Notes for C11.- Notes for C12.- Notes for D13.- Notes for D14.- Notes for D15.- Notes for D16.- Notes for D17.- Notes for D18.- Notes for D19.- Notes for D20.- Notes for D21.- Notes for D22.- Notes for D23.- Notes for E24.- Notes for E25.- Notes for E26.- Notes for E27.- Published Works of H. Kamerlingh Onnes.- Name Index.