William Giauque
A chemist who tamed the coldest reaches of the universe, inventing a way to create temperatures within a fraction of absolute zero.
1895–1982 (age 87)·Canadian-born American chemist·Birthday: May 12·The Lost Generation
Biography
William Giauque's scientific career was a lifelong pursuit of the cold. Joining the University of California, Berkeley as a freshman, he never really left, building his entire legacy within its chemistry department. He was fascinated by the Third Law of Thermodynamics and the theoretical impossibility of reaching absolute zero. In response, Giauque and his graduate student, David MacDougall, pioneered adiabatic demagnetization in the 1930s, a brilliant method to cool materials to within thousandths of a degree of that ultimate limit. This wasn't just a laboratory stunt; it opened a new frontier for studying the fundamental properties of matter. His meticulous work on thermodynamic properties at ultra-low temperatures, which earned him the Nobel Prize in 1949, provided the essential data that underpinned advances in fields from chemical engineering to astrophysics.
The Lost Generation
1883–1900
Came of age during World War I. Disillusioned by the carnage, they rejected the certainties of the Victorian era and built modernism from the wreckage — in art, literature, and politics.
William was born in 1895, placing them squarely in The Lost Generation. The events that shaped this generation — world wars, depression, and rapid industrialization — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When William Was Born
The biggest hits of 1895
William's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1895Born
First public film screening by the Lumiere brothers
President: Grover Cleveland
1900Started school
Boxer Rebellion in China
President: William McKinley
1908Became a teenager
Ford Model T goes into production
President: Theodore Roosevelt
1911Could drive
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire kills 146 in New York
President: William Howard Taft
1913Could vote
The Federal Reserve is established
President: Woodrow Wilson
1916Turned 21
The Battle of the Somme claims over a million casualties
President: Woodrow Wilson
1925Turned 30
The Scopes Trial debates evolution in schools
Home: $4,366President: Calvin Coolidge"Sweet Georgia Brown" — Ben Bernie
1935Turned 40
Social Security Act signed into law
Gas: $0.19/galHome: $3,450President: Franklin D. Roosevelt"Cheek to Cheek" — Fred AstaireBest Picture: Mutiny on the Bounty
1945Turned 50
WWII ends; atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Gas: $0.21/galHome: $4,600Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Sentimental Journey" — Les Brown & Doris DayBest Picture: The Lost Weekend
1955Turned 60
Rosa Parks refuses to give up her bus seat
Gas: $0.29/galHome: $9,550Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Rock Around the Clock" — Bill Haley & His CometsBest Picture: Marty
1965Turned 70
US sends combat troops to Vietnam
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,600Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" — The Rolling StonesBest Picture: The Sound of Music
1975Turned 80
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1982Died at 87
Michael Jackson releases Thriller
Gas: $1.22/galHome: $55,200Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Physical" — Olivia Newton-JohnBest Picture: Gandhi
Key Achievements
- Awarded the 1949 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his investigations into the properties of matter at extremely low temperatures.
- Co-developed the method of adiabatic demagnetization, a groundbreaking technique for achieving temperatures within millidegrees of absolute zero.
- His precise measurements of thermodynamic entropies provided critical experimental verification of the Third Law of Thermodynamics.
- Spent his entire 65-year academic career at UC Berkeley, from undergraduate to professor emeritus.
Did You Know?
He initially failed to get into UC Berkeley as a mining engineer but was admitted to the College of Chemistry after a persuasive interview.
During World War II, he worked on the Manhattan Project, researching the separation of uranium isotopes.
He turned down job offers from prestigious institutions like MIT and Harvard to remain at Berkeley.
An avid outdoorsman, he named a mineral he discovered 'berkelium' after his lifelong academic home.
“I was just trying to find out what happens when you get very cold.”
