William Giauque

William Francis Giauque was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, and attended Niagara Falls Collegiate Institute before studying chemical engineering and thermodynamics at the University of California, Berkeley, under Gilbert N. Lewis.

In the 1920s, Giauque invented the technique of adiabatic demagnetization—using magnetic fields on paramagnetic salts—which enabled scientists to cool matter to within a fraction of a degree above absolute zero (0.001 K). His precise measurements verified the Third Law of Thermodynamics and discovered two heavy isotopes of oxygen (O-17 and O-18), earning him the 1949 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.