Very cold in that school!
Description
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and the Leiden Instrumentmakers School
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853-1926) was the first to liquefy helium in 1908 and discovered superconductivity three years later. All thanks to his Leiden cryogenic laboratory. That cold laboratory was the product of a lot of thinking, vision, guts and tough perseverance. At the same time, it could only come about and flourish by employing skilled technicians. The creation of its own in-house training, culminating in the establishment of the Leiden Instrumentmakers School in 1901, was a golden move and a pillar of Kamerlingh Onnes' success
10.30:00 Reception with coffee
11:00 Lecture by Prof D. van Delft
11:45 Pause
12:15 Continuation of lecture with concluding discussion
12:45 End of meeting
Speaker(s)
Dirk van Delft (1951) studied mathematics and physics in Leiden. He worked in education, was chief science editor at NRC Handelsblad from 1994-2005 and has been director of Museum Boerhaave since 2006. He is also extraordinary professor of Material Heritage of Natural Sciences at Leiden University. In 2005, he received his PhD from that university for the thesis 'Heike Kamerlingh Onnes: a biography'. In 2002, he was a fellow at NIAS (Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study). His publications include 'De toppen van het kan: Nederlandse wetenschappers over hun drijfveren en werk' (Bert Bakker, 2006), 'Freezing Physics; Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and the Quest for Cold' (Edita, 2007), 'De telescoop; erffenis van een Nederlandse uitvinding' (Edita, 2008) and 'Jacht op het bsolute nulpuntunt' (Bert Bakker, 2008). His oration (January 2009) was entitled 'Blingbling, key value and the misunderstood instrument'. Among other things, he is a member of the National UNESCO Commission, a member of the Platform Science Technology and a member of the KNAW's Science History Committee
Location
Science Centre, Mijnbouwstraat 120,
2628 RX Delft
Organiser
History of Technology
Histechnica
Name and contact details for information
Further information from L.A. Hissink at the e-mail address below.