Louis Paul Cailletet: The liquefaction of oxygen and the emergence of low-temperature research
Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: In 1877 Louis Paul Cailletet in France and Raoul Pictet in Switzerland liquefied oxygen in the form of a mist. The liquefaction of the first of the so-called permanent gases heralded the birth of low-temperature research and is often described in the literature as having started a ‘race’ for attaining progressively lower temperatures. In fact, between 1877 and 1908, when helium, the last of the permanent gases, was liquefied, there were many priority disputes—something quite characteristic of the emergence of a new research field. This paper examines Cailletet's path to the liquefaction of oxygen, as well as a debate between him and the Polish physicist Zygmunt Wróblewski over the latter's contribution to the liquefaction of gases.
Author: Faidra Papanelopoulou
Institution: National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
Language: English
Subfield: History and Philosophy of Science
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2139060271