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Heike Kamerlingh Onnes

A man with light skin, blue eyes, and a neatly groomed mustache and beard, wearing a beige trench coat over a white shirt and dark tie, stands against a dark background.

A Dutch physicist who pioneered the field of cryogenics. In 1908, he became the first person to successfully liquefy helium, reaching temperatures just a few degrees above absolute zero. Three years later, while testing the electrical properties of metals in this ultra-cold environment, he discovered superconductivity. He was awarded the 1913 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on cold matter.

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