Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Autograph Letter Signed. Three pages of a bifolium, 5.5" x 8.75", Liden [Netherlands]; February 23, 1913. Written in German on Onnes' personal stationery. In this letter to Nobel Prize winning physicist Wilhelm Wien, Onnes discusses his discovery of superconductivity. He won the Nobel Prize for this discovery later in 1913. It reads in part [English translation]: "...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...copper crystals will be included. Of the 5, one, that is a), broken, and the other 4 produced temperatures in hydrogen..." Onnes then handwrites some of the numerical results for his experiments 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." Signed, "H. Kamerlingh Onnes." Condition: .5" inch closed tear to right margin. Lightly rubbed with slight age toning. Smoothed mail folds. HID03101062020 © 2020 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved