October 2020 Auction Ends Thursday, October 29th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/29/2020
Nobel Prize winning physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes autograph letter signed, dated 23 February 1913, the same year he won the Nobel Prize for discovering superconductivity, the topic of this letter. In fact, Kamerlingh Onnes fills the letter with the results of his experiments on the phenomenon. Three page letter on Kamerlingh Onnes' personal bifolium stationery is written in German to fellow Nobel Prize winning physicist Wilhelm Wien, reading in part, "…Several experiments that I had to make to complete my treatise on resistance in the superconducting metal state repeatedly failed to produce satisfactory results and will have to be repeated. These left no opportunity for other experiments that also require strong current, such as your copper crystals. The next time, however, the [illegible] of the copper crystals will be included. Of the 5, one, that is a), is broken, and the other 4 produced temperatures in hydrogen…"
Onnes then handwrites the numerical results for his experiments, with notes, before concluding, "…We may predict, therefore, that this resistance in helium will not decrease very many times. The superconducting state will probably not occur. Nevertheless, the resistance can still be reduced a little bit. I hope to report about this soon…H. Kamerlingh Onnes". Letter measures 5.625" x 8.75" as folded. Minor creasing and single fold, with small quarter-inch tear to margin. Very good condition. With translation.
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Autograph Letter Signed From 1913, the Year He Won the Nobel Prize for His Work on Superconductivity, the Topic of This Letter
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