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Summary
Summary In 1908 the First International Congress of Refrigeration took place in Paris, organised by a score of French industrialists and supported by some of the major railway and shipping companies. A few months later, in January 1909, the International Association of Refrigeration was founded with the aim of encouraging the general progress of the science and industries of artificial cold. The aim of this paper consists in examining the early years of the Association with a particular focus on its scientific character. The research is based on the documents published by the Association from 1908 to 1914, and on private correspondence between two of the main scientists, both Nobel Prize recipients, who played an important role in its establishment: the Swiss physicist Édouard Guillaume (1861–1938) and the Dutch physicist Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853–1926). Both scientists had a specific vision for their own role in the Association and for the Association itself. Their correspondence reveals a great range of tensions between the various nation-state members of the Association, its various spheres of activity, but also tensions due to personal ambitions and conflicts of interest.
Acknowledgements
This research was undertaken during my Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship at the Fondation Maison des Sciences de l'Homme in Paris. I would like to thank Prof. Terry Shinn for his support, the staff of the Institut International du Froid and the Association Française du Froid for letting me consult their published documents, Prof. Dirk Van Delft and the staff at the Museum of Boerhaave in Leiden for granting me access to the Kamerlingh Onnes Archives, and the staff at the Bureau International de Poids et Mesures in Sèvres for allowing me to consult their collections on Édouard Guillaume. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the workshop ‘Artificial Cold and International Cooperation in Science’ (4–8 August 2008) at the Lorentz Center in Leiden. I would like to thank the participants of the workshop for their useful comments and advice. Special thanks are also due to Prof. Kostas Gavroglu, Prof. Theodore Arabatzis and the two anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions.
Notes
1 See, for example, René Girault, Diplomatie Européenne. Nations et Impérialismes, 1871–1914 (Paris, 2004), 48–51.
2 We must, of course, keep in mind that the protective tariffs were not a serious obstacle for international trade. See S. Pollard, ‘Free Trade, Protectionism and the World Economy’, in The Mechanics of Internationalism. Culture, Society, and Politics from the 1840s to the First World War, edited by Martin H. Geyer and Johannes Paulmann (Oxford, 2001), 44–5.
3 Expression borrowed from Anne C. Van Helden, The Coldest Spot on Earth. Kamerlingh Onnes and Low Temperature Research, 1882–1923 (Leiden, 1989).
4 On a recent discussion on the distinction between international and transnational, see E. Van der Vleuten, ‘Toward a Transnational History of Technology: Meanings, Promises, Pitfalls’, Technology and Culture, 50 (2008), 974–94.
5 Access to the published documents of the International Association of Refrigeration, now International Institute of Refrigeration, has been granted by its director Dr Didier Coulomb, whom I wish to thank. Unfortunately, full access to the archives of the International Association of Refrigeration has not been granted and therefore we are deprived of a rich archival material, which could, perhaps, further illuminate the origins of the IAR.
6 For a recent biography of Heike Kamerlingh Onnes see Dirk van Delft, Freezing Physics. Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and the Quest for Cold (Amsterdam, 2007). There is no recent biography of Édouard Guillaume, apart from biographical sketches published after his death, commemorative publications, and some studies on his discovery of the alloy Invar used in instruments for precision measurement, for which he received the Nobel Prize in 1920. See, for example, A. Cotton, ‘Notice sur C.E. Guillaume’, Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires de l'Académie des Sciences, 206 (1938), 1841–44.
7 I would like to thank the Boerhaave Museum and especially its director, Prof. Dirk Van Delft, for granting me access to the archives and letting me photograph the correspondence. The translations of the letters written in French are mine.
8 René Girault (note 1).
9 D. van Delft, ‘Facilitating Leiden's Cold: The International Association of Refrigeration and the Internationalisation of Heike Kamerlingh Onnes's Cryogenic Laboratory’, Centaurus, 49 (2007), 227–45.
10 For a discussion of the ‘nationalisation of science’ see D. Edgerton, ‘Science in the United Kingdom: a case study in the Nationalisation of Science’, in Science in the 20th Century, edited by John Krige and Dominique Pestre (Harwood, 1997), 759–76. For a study of the emergence of international science in relation to cognitive, communication, and interdisciplinary issues, see Elisabeth Crawford, Terry Shinn, and Sverker Sörlin, Denationalising Science. The Contexts of International Scientific Practice (Dordrecht, 1992), esp. 14–15.
11 See Eric J. Hobsbawm, Nations and Nationalism since 1780. Programme, Myth, Reality (Cambridge, 1992)
12 Two recent contributions are: Martin H. Geyer and Johannes Paulmann (eds) The Mechanics of Internationalism. Culture, Society, and Politics from the 1840s to the First World War (Oxford, 2001); Sebastian Conrad and Dominic Sachsenmaier (eds), Competing Visions of World Order. Global Moments and Movements, 1880s–1930s (Basingstoke, 2007).
13 See, for example, Osiris's special issue: John Krige and Kai-Henrik Barth (eds), Global Power Knowledge: Science and Technology in International Affairs, Osiris, 21 (2006). For the extended literature on the role of science and technology in international affairs after 2WW, see the introduction to the issue: J.Krige and K.H. Barth, ‘Introduction: Science, Technology and International Affairs’, Osiris, 21 (2006), 1–21. From another perspective, historians of technology working under the research programme ‘Tensions in Europe’ have employed a transnational approach in order to account for the European Integration as the emergent outcome of the circulation and appropriation of artefacts, systems and knowledge across nations. See T.J. Misa and J. Schot, ‘Inventing Europe: Technology and the Hidden Integration of Europe’, History and Technology, 21 (2005), 1–19.
14 Such periodization is suggested in Lyons’ classic: Francis S.L. Lyons, Internationalism in Europe, 1815–1914 (Leiden, 1963). See also Frank Greenaway, Science International. A History of the International Council of Scientific Unions (Cambridge, 1996).
15 Brigitte Schroeder-Gudehus, ‘Nationalism and Internationalism’, in Companion to the History of Modern Science, edited by Robert C. Olby et al. (London, 1990), 911.
16 ‘Scientific internationalism’ is sometimes confused with the ideal of ‘scientific universalism’ according to which scientific enterprise is deemed to be independent of personal attributes and local conditions. For a discussion of the distinction between the two see Elisabeth Crawford, Nationalism and Internationalism in Science, 1880–1939. Four Studies of the Nobel Population (Cambridge, 1992), 28–48. For a general discussion on the ‘internationalist imagination’ that downplays the theme of power and pays more attention to cultural activities, including science, see Akira Iriye, Cultural Internationalism and World Order (Baltimore, MD, 1997).
17 B. Schroeder-Gudehus, ‘Caractéristiques des Relations Scientifiques Internationales, 1870–1914’, Cahiers d'Histoire Mondiale, 10 (1966), 161–77. See also P. Forman, ‘Scientific Internationalism and the Weimar Physicists: the Ideology and its Manipulation in Germany after World War I’, Isis, 64 (1973), 151–80.
18 See also J. Schot, ‘Introduction: Building Europe on Transnational Infrastructures’, in Journal of Transport History, 28 (2007), 1–5, and Benedict Andersen, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin, and Spread of Nationalism (London, 1983).
19 Brigitte Schroeder-Gudehus, ‘Division of Labour and the Common Good: the International Association of Academies, 1899–1914’, in Science, Technology and Society in the Time of Alfred Nobel, edited by Carl G. Bernhard et al. (Oxford, 1982), 3–20.
20 Circular of the ‘Commission d’, Organisation du Premier Congrès International des Industries Frigorifiques, Secrétariat Général, 16, rue Poisson, Paris’ dated May 1907. Archives Nationales, F128834: Congrès Internationaux du Froid: 1909–1913.
21 For a biography of André Lebon see Joël Dubos, André Lebon. Un homme d'Affaires en République (1859–1938) (Rennes, 2000).
22 Biographical details in ‘Obituary: Jean de Loverdo’, Bulletin IAR, 3 (1912), 2–5.
23 Jean de Loverdo, Rapport sur les Applications du Froid Industriel en Agriculture (Paris, 1901); Biographical details in ‘Obituary: Jean de Loverdo’, Bulletin IAR, 3 (1912), Les Abattoirs Publiques, 2 vols (Paris, 1906); Biographical details in ‘Obituary: Jean de Loverdo’, Bulletin IAR, 3 (1912), Conservation par le Froid des Denrées Alimentaires (Paris, 1907).
24 Ministère du Commerce et de l'Industrie to André Lebon (10 July 1907). Archives Nationales, F12 8834.
25 ‘Proposition de Loi tendant à ouvrir au Ministère de l'Agriculture, sur exercice 1907, un Crédit de 40.000 francs pour l'Organisation, à Paris, du 1er Congrès des Industries Frigorifiques’, in Procès-verbal de la 2e séance du 5 décembre 1907 No 1357, Chambre des Députés [offprint in Archives Nationales, F12 8834].
26 Similarly, world exhibitions were not only showcases for nation states displaying their own achievements but also arenas where the politics of nation-states were being negotiated. See M.H. Geyer; J. Paulmann, ‘Introduction: The Mechanics of Internationalism’ in Martin H. Geyer and Johannes Paulmann (note 12a), 10.
27 On the rise of ‘governmental internationalism’ see M. Herren, ‘Governmental Internationalism and the Beginning of a New World Order in the Late-Nineteenth Century’ in Martin H. Geyer and Johannes Paulmann (note 12a), 121.
28 Among others, Kamerlingh Onnes talked about his recent achievement of liquefying helium, Jean Becquerel about his research on low-temperature spectroscopy, Raoul Pictet about some uses of the low-temperatures, and Émile Mathias about some properties of liquids at low temperatures.
29 ‘Discours de M. Kamerlingh Onnes’, in Comptes Rendus du Congrès International du Froid. Rapports et Communications des Sections, edited by Jean de Loverdo, 3 vols (Paris, 1909), I, 137.
30 ‘Voilà le noyau d'une nouvelle et puissante organisation internationale, qui autant que ses aînées contribuera à resserrer les biens entre les êtres pensants des différentes nations, et à grouper leurs bonnes volontés. Nous pouvons sans aucun doute en attendre beaucoup’. Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (26 November 1908), Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297. This is the first surviving letter of the correspondence, in which Guillaume also thanks Kamerlingh Onnes for sending him a number of memoirs of the work conducted under his direction at the Leiden laboratory, and published in Kamerlingh Onnes's own Communications from the Physical Laboratory of the University of Leiden.
31 Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (22 January 1909). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
32 ‘Constitution de l'Association International du Froid’, in (note 29), 665.
33 Constitution de l'Association International du Froid’, in (note 29), 666.
34 Jean de Loverdo had first announced Austria's membership in J. de Loverdo, ‘Section des Transports (séance de 27.02.1909)’, Journal de l'Association Française du Froid, 1 (1909), 3.
35 A. Perret, ‘L'Association International du Froid: Comité Exécutif (Réunion du 26 juin 1909), Journal AFF, 1 (1909), 145.
36 ‘Statuts de l'Association International du Froid’, in (note 29), 681–92.
37 Biographical information on Conte Candido Sabini is scarce. He arrived in Paris as a journalist, and rapidly entered the diplomatic corps in Paris, playing an influential role in the negotiations between France and Italy at the outbreak in the First World War. Information available from the Instituto della Enciclopedia Italiana G. Treccani at http://www.trecanni.it [accessed 27 March 2009].
38 The Association Français du Froid (AFF) was founded on 28 December 1908 and their journal was first issued on June 1909.
39 de Loverdo to Kamerlingh Onnes (8 December 1909). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 190. See also ‘Association International du Froid’, Revue Générale du Froid, 2 (1910), 55.
40 See E. Lemaire, ‘Association International du Froid’, Journal AFF, 1 (1909), 47–8.
41 de Loverdo to Kamerlingh Onnes (17 July 1909). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 190.
42 Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (22 January 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297. A month later Kamerlingh Onnes was wondering why the members of the IAR received the Revue Générale du Froid together with the Bulletin of the IAR, without having the option of receiving it as a supplement. Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (22 February 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
43 Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (1 February 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
44 ‘General Secretary's Report’, Bulletin IAR, 2 (1911), 20.
45 ‘General Secretary's Report. Members and Resources’, Bulletin IAR, 1 (1910), 73.
46 Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (4 February 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
47 Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (17 February 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297. In a subsequent letter Kamerlingh Onnes congratulates Guillaume for the difference in style between the proceedings published in the Journal AFF and the Bulletin IAR, both written by de Loverdo. Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (22 February 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
48 Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (30 September 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
49 Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (4 October 1910 and 7 January 1911). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
50 ‘General Secretary's Report’, Bulletin IAR, 2 (1911), 7.
51 The ‘Committee on Papers and Lectures’ of the American Association of Refrigeration, for instance, refused to prepare a list of American works of refrigeration requested by the IAR, on the grounds that such lists appeared in other journals. ‘American Association of Refrigeration’, Bulletin IAR, 6 (1915), 146.
52 The ‘Committee on Papers and Lectures’ of the American Association of Refrigeration, for instance, refused to prepare a list of American works of refrigeration requested by the IAR, on the grounds that such lists appeared in other journals. ‘American Association of Refrigeration’, Bulletin IAR, 6 (1915), 15
53 ‘General Secretary's Report’, Bulletin IAR, 2 (1911), 26.
55 ‘Je regrette maintenant de n'avoir dans la dernière réunion du conseil pris la parole pour souligner ce qui vous aviez dit c.à.d. que l'Association devrait montrer maintenant son caractère scientifique en commençant les travaux techniques qu'on attend de nom, et de n'avoir pas pris carrément position contre M. de Sabini qui parlait de l’ antagonisme entre hommes d'affaires et homme de science. Mais j'avais déjà développé beaucoup de force pour obtenir que la Bulletin serait autre chose qu'un organe à réclames de M. de Loverdo’. Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (7 January 1911). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
56 ‘Cependant, tous ceux qui, à Paris, sont un peu au courant des choses scientifiques, savent que l'on ne convoque pas des membres de l'Académie pour le lundi à 3 h […] Je dois vous dire d'ailleurs que, dans les conditions o[ugrave] elle est engagée, l'Association m'intéresse de moins en moins. M. de Loverdo, qui défend sa peau, a constitué autour de lui un petit groupe dévoué de personnes qui ont su jusqu'ici entraîner les résolutions des assemblées générales’. Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (21 November 1911). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 262.
54 de Loverdo to Kamerlingh Onnes (4 February 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 190. In this letter de Loverdo assures Kamerlingh Onnes that as soon as the budget of the IAR increases, the Bulletin will turn into a purely scientific edition, without the insertion of advertisements, and will deal exclusively with issues concerning the science and industries of cold.
57 Lemaire had visited and gained the sympathy of Kamerlingh Onnes in September 1911. Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (18 November 1911). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
58 Kamerlingh Onnes to Gouault (26 October 1912). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 266. A letter of complaint from E. Lemaire to Kamerlingh Onnes concerning probably his dismissal as editor of the Bulletin due to budget cuts suggested by the Count Sabini is indicative of the fact that despite de Loverdo's removal, tensions between competing visions of the Association continued to exist. Lemaire to Kamerlingh Onnes (20 December 1912). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 266.
59 The ‘abstracting’ section of the Bulletin was a characteristic genre of the period, which was created in order to deal with the numerous scientific publications. Gouault based it on the supplement published by the International Institute of Agriculture in Rome. See Gouault to Kamerlingh Onnes (17 September 1912). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 266.
60 ‘German Edition of the Bulletin’, Bulletin IAR, 5 (1914), 172.
61 ‘Board Meeting (Paris, 28 December 1911)’, Bulletin IAR, 3 (1912), 12.
62 The Argentinean Committee went as far as proposing the suppression of the English edition and the proposed German edition so that the French one was rendered ‘more important and interesting’. ‘Monthly Bulletin’, Bulletin IAR, 5 (1914), 85.
63 ‘Bulletin’, Bulletin IAR, 5 (1914), 90.
64 ‘German Edition of the Bulletin’, Bulletin IAR, 5 (1914), 172–73.
65 ‘…de faire de l'Association un institut pour grouper les bonnes volontés vers un but élevé, de vous seconder dans la défense de nos statuts, qui sont tout à fait empreints d'un esprit d'impartialité et de stimulants de travail […] autant plus qu'on limitera les frais du siège—sans les indemnités et salaires, qui sont équivalents au travail naturellement—autant moins on pourra faire d'objection contre la centralisation à Paris, et autant mieux on gagnera la sympathie nécessaire pour mettre l'oeuvre en action’. Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (22 January 1909). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
67 ‘Report of Proceedings of Commission I, 3rd Sitting, 10th October 1910’, in IInd International Congress of Refrigeration, Vienna 1910. English Edition of the Reports and Proceedings, edited by General Commissariat (Vienna, 1911), 71.
66 One of the wishes expressed by the 1st commission was that the creation of a permanent Association would support low-temperature research by providing Leiden's cryogenic laboratory with the necessary funds for the execution of its work. ‘Assemblée Générale des Sections. Section I. Sous-section A’, in (note 29), 610.
71 ‘Meeting of the Executive Committee, Thursday 21.07.1910’, Bulletin IAR, 1 (1910), 11.
68 Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (18 January 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
69 de Loverdo to Kamerlingh Onnes (25 March 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 190.
70 Circular ‘Modification des Statuts de l'Association: Art. 3, § 6 et 7’. Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 190.
72 ‘Meeting of the Executive Committee, Thursday 21.07.1910’, Bulletin IAR, 1 (1910), 7–15, and ‘Modifications to the by-laws’, Bulletin IAR, 1 (1910), 87.
73 This incident corroborates M. Herren's point according to which international cooperation increases the political importance of small states. See M. Herren, ‘Governmental Internationalism and the Beginning of a New World Order in the Late Nineteenth Century’ in Martin H. Geyer and Johannes Paulmann (note 12a), 143–44.
74 ‘Executive Committee (Vienna, Saturday 8 October 1910), Bulletin IAR, 1 (1910), 69.
76 ‘On ne peut pas dire que l’état hollandais ne donne pas son obole dans l'effort international. M. Mathias a fait ici ses expériences avec moi sans payer des frais. Ce qu'il a acheté est resté la propriété de l'Université de Toulouse. Cela a été le cas avec M. Lenard de Heidelberg, avec M. Weiss de Zurich, avec M. Becquerel de Paris’. Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (11 November 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
75 Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (8 November 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
77 Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (12 November 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
78 Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (16 November 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
80 ‘L'Office Central doit constituer un bien international, coordonner les efforts et faire connaître les résultats obtenus. Mais cet Office n'est que utile et fructueux auxiliaire des uvres spéciales qui constituent le premier but de l'Association’. Guillaume to Count Sabini (no date/ a copy of the letter was sent to Kamerlingh Onnes on 26 December 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
82 ‘M. Raffalovitch et la Comte Sabini, qui ne sont pas des hommes de science, n'ont aucune idée des conditions techniques dans lesquelles doit évoluer l'Association, ils ne comprennent pas l'utilité de subventionner des études, et ne verraient qu'une chose à faire si l'Association voulait d'intéresser financièrement à des recherches, ce serait de donner des récompenses pour les travaux achevés’. Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (26 November 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
85 ‘M. de Loverdo défend sa peau, et le fait avec toute son énergie; Nous luttons pour des principes, avec des vues dont la largeur dissémine l'effet et ne produit pas l'action local qui enforce [sic]’. Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (26 December 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
79 Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (14 November 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
81 Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (26 December 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
83 Guillaume to Lebon (26 December 1910), de Loverdo to Guillaume (30 December 1910), Guillaume to de Loverdo (3 January 1911), and Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (7 January 1911). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
84 de Loverdo to Guillaume (30 December 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297. The Swiss Federal Government announced in a letter to the IAR dated 31 March 1913 that it would join the Association with an annual subscription of 500fr. ‘International Association of Refrigeration: Adhesion of the Swiss Federal Government to the International Association of Refrigeration’, Bulletin IAR, 5 (1913), 186.
86 Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (28 November 1911). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
87 Meeting of Executive Committee on 29 December 1910, Bulletin IAR, 2 (1911), 20, 24.
88 Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (7 January 1911). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
89 Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (21 November 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 262.
90 Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (26 December 1911), and Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (16 November 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 262.
91 ‘Proceedings of the International Association of Refrigeration. Meeting of the Executive Committee, 28.12.1911’, Bulletin IAR, 2 (1911), 226.
92 The decision on the distribution of the money was taken by a special committee composed of Guillaume, d'Arsonval and Barrier on 30 April 1912. See Circular ‘Commission de Répartition des Subventions Scientifiques Votées par le Conseil dans sa Séance de 29 Décembre 1911’. Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 266.
93 ‘Report on the International Association of Refrigeration's Proceedings during 1911’, Bulletin IAR, 3 (1912), 28–34.
94 ‘Report on the International Association of Refrigeration's Proceedings during 1911’, Bulletin IAR, 3 (1912), 35.
95 A letter announcing the decision was sent to the IAR by the Dutch Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce on 12 December 1912. See ‘The Netherlands: Subsidy for the Netherlands Governments’, Bulletin IAR, 4 (1913), 15.
96 Gouault to Kamerlingh Onnes (19 February 1913). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 266.
97 ‘Scientific Subsidy’, Bulletin of the IAR, 4 (1913), 232. The amount of 2500fr was sent to Kamerlingh Onnes by Gouault on 26 May 1913. Gouault to Kamerlingh Onnes (26 May 1913), and Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (16 November 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 190.
98 ‘International Subscription for the Cryogenic Laboratory of Leiden (Holland)’, Bulletin IAR, 4 (1913), 434.
99 ‘Encouragement for Science’, Bulletin IAR, 5 (1914), 101.
102 ‘Pour le moment, nous en sommes à la période purement diplomatique, au sujet des unités mêmes à employer, il a semblé que nous devions nous tenir dans des termes vagues, et remettre l’élaboration complète plus tard’. Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (1 June 1909). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
100 The important and technically involved issue of the standardization of scales for low temperatures has not been dealt systematically in the literature. See forthcoming paper by author.
101 ‘Commission International des Gaz Liquéfies et des Unités (réunion du 9 juin 1909)’, Journal AFF, 1 (1909), 99–100.
103 Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (30 November 1909). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297; Also mentioned in Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (19 February 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297;
104 Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (26 June 1909). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
105 Guillaume to Kamerlingh Onnes (16 November 1909). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
107 ‘Nous deux appartenons à des nations, dont la position internationale comporte le devoir de favoriser tout ce qui est en profit de la communication internationale des idées et des bonnes volontés. La manière de M. de Loverdo a plutôt l'air de priver au tout possible de toute influence tout ce qui n'est pas Paris. Cela reviendrait à séparer les nations en s'imposant sous le prétexte de les réunir toutes’. Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (17–18 January 1910). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
106 Kamerlingh Onnes to Guillaume (1 December 1909). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
108 ‘Proceedings of International Committees: International Committee of Liquefied Gases and Units’, Bulletin of the IAR, 2 (1911), 37–70. The Report was also published as a separate leaflet, see Les Unités de l'Industrie du Froid. Rapport présenté à la 1er Commission de l'Association Internationale du Froid par une Commission Préparatoire Composée de MM. Barrier, Sir J. Dewar, Guillaume, H. Kamerlingh Onnes et Mollier (Paris, no date).
109 See (note 108b), 1–2.
110 See (note 108b), 30.
111 See esp. Graeme N.J. Gooday, The Morals of Measurement. Accuracy, Irony and Trust in Late Victorian Electrical Practice (Cambridge, 2004).
112 See, for example, M. Kershaw, ‘The International Electrical Units: A Failure in Standardisation?’, Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science’, 38 (2007), 108–31.
113 Kamerling Onnes to Guillaume (20 February 1911). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 297.
114 A first report of the sub-committee was presented at the Chicago Congress in 1913 and later reprinted in the Bulletin in 1914: H. Kamerlingh Onnes, ‘On Units in Thermodynamics’, in (note 29), II, 439; H. Kamerlingh Onnes, ‘First Report of the Preparatory Commission on Thermometry of Low Temperatures’, Proceedings. Third International Congress of Refrigeration, 3 vols (Chicago, 1913), II, 66–90.
115 This study undertaken by the French refrigerating engineer and General Secretary of the AIF, E. Gouault, had finally received the 500fr grant from the AIF. See E. Gouault, ‘Tables for converting Units and Constant Qualities used by the Frigorific Industry’, Bulletin IAR, 3 (1912), 50–77.
116 See, for example, John Starr to E. Gouault (20 June 1912). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 266. In this letter Starr asks for information concerning the thermodynamic properties of ethyl chloride, and points to the fact that there are significant differences between the various curves plotted for the same refrigerant fluids. For this reason, he had asked the American Section of the IAR to take this matter into consideration. Also in a letter from Gouault to Kamerlingh Onnes, Gouault underlines the inconsistency between the data provided by French, German and American engineers and refers to his work as the starting point for discussion in order to reach general consensus. Gouault to Kamerlingh Onnes (16 January 1913). Boerhaave Museum, archives of Kamerlingh Onnes, inv. no. 266.
117 H. Kamerlingh Onnes, ‘The Arrangement of Experiments concerning the Thermodynamic Properties of Ammonia and Methylchloride’, in (note 114b), II, 91–112; G. Holst, ‘New Measurements of the Thermodynamic Properties of Ammonia and Methylchloride’, in (note 114b), II, 112–18.
118 ‘President's Address’, in (note 114b), II, 4–5.