Abstract
Kapteyn was born in the village of Barneveld in the province of Gelderland, where his parents had a boarding school, where French was the official language. Kapteyn’s father came from a true teachers’ family. The busy parents had not much attention for their own children. Kapteyn, ninth child of fifteen, suffered from this lack of attention. He made his first astronomical observations with a telescope, a present from his father. He was very talented and went to Utrecht in order to study mathematics and physics in 1868, where he took his doctoral degree magna cum laude with his advisor Cornelius H. C. Grinwis (1831–1899) in 1875.
At last my fate has been decided.
De Sitter in a letter to Gill [RGS, DOG 159, 6-8-1908]
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Notes
- 1.
Dutch: Onderzoek der trillende platte vliezen.
- 2.
Pieter J. van Rhijn (1886–1960) was a student of Kapteyn and became director of the Astronomical Laboratory Kapteyn in Groningen in 1921.
- 3.
See for further information about Oort the biography of Van Evert (Van Evert 2012).
- 4.
Private communication from Mrs. Bertha Clemens Schröner (1911–2009). She remembered calling them Kappie and Ootje.
- 5.
Aberration of light. As a result of the moving of the earth the light of a star seems to come from a slightly different direction, compared to the direction with a not-moving earth.
- 6.
MNRAS, LXIX, 8, p. 615.
- 7.
The hbs in Groningen was the first in The Netherlands where the specific curriculum was taught, in 1864. The Groningen hbs was founded with the support of Willem de Sitter, the grandfather of the astronomer and in those years mayor of Groningen. Groneman was director of the hbs from 1869 until 1905. His scientific motto was: No truth ever stood in the way of another one.
- 8.
The translation is made by the Frisian poet and translator Geart van der Meer , to whom I am very grateful. The original poem is published in: Steenmeijer-Wielenga, T. (editor), Obe Postma, Samle fersen; Friese Pers Boekerij, Leeuwarden, 2005.
- 9.
Hendrik A. Lorentz (1853–1928) was one of the world’s leading theoretical physicists. He was professor of theoretical physics at Leiden University from 1878 until 1912, when he was succeeded by Paul Ehrenfest (1880–1933). Lorentz received together with Pieter Zeeman (1865–1943) the Nobel Prize for physics in 1902 for their discovery and explanation of the influence of a magnetic field on spectral lines.
- 10.
Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (1853–1926) was an experimental physicist and professor at Leiden University from 1882 until 1923. He became famous for the liquefaction of helium and the discovery of superconductivity. He received the Nobel Prize for his work at low temperatures in 1913.
- 11.
Jan C. Kluyver (1860–1932) was professor of mathematics at Leiden University from 1892 until 1930.
- 12.
Antoine P. N. Franchimont (1844–1919) was professor of chemistry at Leiden University from 1874 until 1914.
- 13.
Karl Martin (1851–1942) was professor of geology at Leiden University from 1877 until 1922.
- 14.
Dutch: College van Curatoren.
- 15.
Johan W. J. A. Stein (1871–1951) was a member of the Society of Jesus. He became director of the Vatican Observatory in 1930.
References
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Guichelaar, J. (2018). The Road to Professor in Leiden. In: Willem de Sitter. Springer Biographies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98337-0_6
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