We study the shift in the critical temperature T(c) in binary mixtures in strong electric fields. In experiments we measure the nonlinear dielectric effect (NDE) in a mixture of nitrobenze and n-octane and calculate Piekara's factor. We find that the critical anomaly of Piekara's factor is a function of an electric field strength. We propose to explain this observation as a result of a downward shift of T(c), and this allows us to calculate (∂T(c)/∂E(2)) = (-22 ± 10) × 10(-16) (K m(2))/V(2). In the theoretical part we amend Landau and Lifshitz's formula and show that the downward shift of Tc can be estimated from a simple mean-field theory taking into account the linear and quadratic terms in an expansion of the constitutive relation ε(x) between the electric constant ε and mixture composition x.

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