Willem Hendrik Keesom

Willem Keesom
Willem Keesom in 1926
Born	21 June 1876 (1876-06-21) Texel, Netherlands
Died	3 March 1956 (1956-03-04) (aged 79) Leiden, Netherlands
Known for	helium
Scientific career
Fields	physics
Doctoral advisor	Johannes Diderik van der Waals

Willem Hendrik Keesom (/ˈkeɪsoʊm/) (21 June 1876, Texel – 3 March 1956, Leiden) was a Dutch physicist who, in 1926, invented a method to freeze liquid helium. 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, who had discovered superconductivity (a feat for which Kamerlingh Onnes received the 1913 Nobel Prize 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. In 1966, the minor planet 9686 Keesom was named after him.

See also

• Timeline of low-temperature technology

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: Willem Hendrik Keesom @ Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.
• P.H. van Laer, Keesom, Wilhelmus Hendrikus (1876-1956), in Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland.