From the June 20, 1931, issue
By Science News
HUGE ELETROMAGNET INSTALLED AT LEIDEN
A huge electromagnet weighing 14 tons, about two-thirds as much as a street car, just erected at Leiden, Holland, by the Siemens Halske Company of Berlin, will enable scientists to wrench atoms apart as never before. This marks the realization of a dream of the late Dr. H. Kammerlingh Onnes, the first man to liquefy helium, who designed the magnet.
The joint action of intense magnetic force with intense cold is likely to yield new secrets about atoms, is the belief of Prof. Onnes successor, Prof. W.J. Haas, who completed the work. Dr. Peter Kapitza, of the University of Cambridge, England, has recently constructed a similar magnet for use at extremely low temperatures, with the same hope in mind.