Cornelis Jacobus (Cor) Gorter (14 August 1907,

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

– 30 March 1980,

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

) was a Dutch experimental and theoretical physicist. Among other work, he discovered paramagnetic relaxation and was a pioneer in low temperature physics.

Education and career

After his Abitur in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Gorter studied

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

, earning his PhD with the thesis ''Paramagnetische Eigenschaften von Salzen'' ("Paramagnetic Properties of Salts") under Wander de Haas. From 1931 to 1936 he worked at

Teylers Stichting The Teylers Stichting (English: Teylers Foundation) is a Dutch foundation founded with the heritage of the Dutch 18th century cloth merchant and banker Pieter Teyler van der Hulst to support the people in need and encourage worship, science and art ...

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

and from 1936 to 1940 at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

, before he became a professor at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

as successor to

Pieter Zeeman Pieter Zeeman (; 25 May 1865 – 9 October 1943) was a Dutch physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Hendrik Lorentz for his discovery of the Zeeman effect. Childhood and youth Pieter Zeeman was born in Zonnemaire, a small town ...

. In 1946, succeeding W. H. Keesom, he returned to Leiden as a professor. In 1948, as successor to De Haas, Gorter directed the

Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory Kamerlingh Onnes is a compound surname of Dutch origin. People with the name include: * Harm Kamerlingh Onnes (1893–1985), Dutch portrait painter and ceramist * Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853–1926), Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate ** Kamerling ...

, remaining there until his retirement in 1973. He died in Leiden in 1980, after suffering for several years from Alzheimer's disease. His doctoral students include

Nicolaas Bloembergen Nicolaas Bloembergen (March 11, 1920 – September 5, 2017) was a Dutch-American physicist and Nobel laureate, recognized for his work in developing driving principles behind nonlinear optics for laser spectroscopy. During his career, he was a p ...

and Bert Broer.

Work

In 1936 he discovered paramagnetic relaxation; however, he missed the discovery of nuclear magnetic resonance (otherwise known as nuclear spin resonance), as described by Joan Henri Van der Waals. With

Hendrik Casimir Hendrik Brugt Gerhard Casimir (15 July 1909 – 4 May 2000) was a Dutch physicist best known for his research on the two-fluid model of superconductors (together with C. J. Gorter) in 1934 and the Casimir effect (together with D. Polder) in 1 ...

he devised a two-fluid model to explain

superconductivity Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike ...

with

thermodynamics Thermodynamics is a branch of physics that deals with heat, work, and temperature, and their relation to energy, entropy, and the physical properties of matter and radiation. The behavior of these quantities is governed by the four laws of the ...

and

Maxwell's equations Maxwell's equations, or Maxwell–Heaviside equations, are a set of coupled partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electromagnetism, classical optics, and electric circuits. ...

. Casimir described their collaboration in one of his books. The "Gorter-model" for a second-order phase transition is from this period of his career, as well as the elucidation of the Senftleben effect (change of

viscosity The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate. For liquids, it corresponds to the informal concept of "thickness": for example, syrup has a higher viscosity than water. Viscosity quantifies the inte ...

and thermal conductivity of paramagnetic gas in a magnetic field). Gorter studied many aspects of antiferromagnetism in CuCl₂·2H₂O. With Johannes Haantjes, he developed a theoretical model of antiferromagnetism in a double-lattice substance. After WWII he worked on liquid helium II and developed the theory which is now known as Coulomb blockade, the increase in electrical resistance in metal films at low temperatures. The Gorter-Mellink equation describes the mutual friction of two fluids in liquid helium II.

Prizes and honors

* Membership of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 1946. * Membership to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...

in 1952. * Fritz London Award in 1966 for his various contributions to the physics of low temperatures. His acceptance speech discusses the discoveries he missed. * Membership to the United States

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 1967. * Membership to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1970. * In the autumn of 2007, the C. J. Gorter Center for High-field MRI was opened in Leiden.C. J. Center for High-field MRI , Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum
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Publications

scientific articles
* Book (in Dutch) ''Paramagnetische relaxatie'', Leiden, November 1946 * ''Progress in Low Temperature Physics'', six parts under his editorship

References

Sources

*
Biografie
door H.A.M. Snelders in Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland

External links

*
Oral History Transcript — Dr. C. J. Gorter, Niels Bohr Library & Archives with the Center for History of Physics of the American Institute of Physics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorter, Cornelis Jacobus 1907 births 1980 deaths 20th-century Dutch physicists Leiden University alumni Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam Academic staff of Leiden University Scientists from Utrecht (city) Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society