Dutch astronomy and physics experienced two "golden ages". The first
one covered the 17th century, culminating with Christiaan Huygens,
inventor of the pendulum clock and the wave theory of light, and
discoverer of Saturn's rings and largest satellite Titan. The second
one, which lasts till the present, started around 1880 with
physicists Lorentz, van der Waals, Zeeman and Kamerlingh Onnes and
astronomer Kapteijn and his pupils De Sitter, van Rhijn, Oort and
Schilt. Kapteijn, through his friendship with George Ellery Hale,
initiated the strong connection between American and Dutch astronomy,
which led to the rise of many Dutch-born astronomers to prominent
positions in the US, from Luyten, Bok, Brouwer, Schilt and Kuiper
to Woltjer, Gehrels, and Beckers. The rise of the second "golden
age" appears to be closely related to drastic reforms in the Dutch
high school and university systems in the last decades of the 19th
century.
To begin viewing slides, click on the first slide below. (Or, view as pdf.)