This dissertation presents a new perspective on the life, work and character of the Dutch physical chemist Jacobus Henricus van ’t Hoff, first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and one of... Show moreThis dissertation presents a new perspective on the life, work and character of the Dutch physical chemist Jacobus Henricus van ’t Hoff, first recipient of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and one of the most important and colourful scientists in Dutch history. The image of Van ’t Hoff that emerges from the research presented in this dissertation is that of someone with a strong drive to make a name in science, who nonetheless always remained an outsider. The only major biography was already published in 1912, and was rather uncritical, if not heroizing. Therefore, it was high time for a new one, covering all insights gained over the past hundred years into his scientific research, his personal life and their mutual influence. Public and family archives have delivered a wealth of previously unknown (personal) documents, letters, diaries etc. which to a large extent had never been studied before. They offer previously unknown insights into the character of Van ‘t Hoff and shed new light on the interaction between the personality and scientific work of this leading chemist of the nineteenth century. Apart from these biographical aspects the biography also covers more general historical issues like the internationalisation of science at the end of the nineteenth century, the founding of the new discipline of physical chemistry in the same period, and the changing relationship between education and research in Dutch universities and abroad. Show less
This dissertation presents the results of the importance of creativity for ICT-students of Dutch universities of applied sciences (in Dutch: hogescholen), and the functioning of training courses... Show moreThis dissertation presents the results of the importance of creativity for ICT-students of Dutch universities of applied sciences (in Dutch: hogescholen), and the functioning of training courses that aim to promote creative abilities is highlighted. The ability to generate new and potentially useful ideas and problem-solving skills as a result of creative thinking is an important driver of human evolution. According to many, creativity is a very valued and sought-after accomplishment for today's society and for the future. In addition, computers, and everything related to them, have become an integral part of society. The ‘computer’ is one of the most important innovations in the history of mankind. Computers have radically changed our lives. It is even hardly conceivable to innovate without ICT. It is therefore logical that ICT-professionals play an extremely prominent role in innovation. This applies in particular to students taking a Bachelor of ICT-course in a Dutch University of Applied Sciences, because they are trained as leading IT-specialists.These phenomena led to two interrelated research questions: (i) ”Is creativity training important for ICT-students at Dutch hogescholen?”; and (ii): “Does creativity training work, as it is integrated in the curriculum of these ICT-students?” Show less
De Nederlandse fysicus Jaap Kistemaker slaagde er in 1952 voor de eerste keer in om uranium te verrijken. Dat was het begin van een lange reeks experimenten die er uiteindelijk voor zorgden dat... Show moreDe Nederlandse fysicus Jaap Kistemaker slaagde er in 1952 voor de eerste keer in om uranium te verrijken. Dat was het begin van een lange reeks experimenten die er uiteindelijk voor zorgden dat Nederland een sterspeler kon worden op de internationale markt voor verrijkt uranium. De ultracentrifugetechnologie stond aan de wieg van het consortium Urenco, een succesvol samenwerkingsverband tussen Duitsland, Engeland en Nederland. Jaap Kistemaker en uraniumverrijking in Nederland schetst de moeizame weg die Kistemaker af moest leggen. Geconfronteerd met geldnood, bureaucratie en verregaande geheimhouding ten tijde van de ontluikende Koude Oorlog, was het geen eenvoudige zaak om het project in de lucht te houden. Daarnaast toont het boek overtuigend aan dat wetenschap niet alleen afhankelijk is van toeval en doorzettingsvermogen, maar ook dat het natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek na de oorlog een ingrijpende transformatie onderging. Show less
This study examines the provenance of the mineralogy and palaeontology collections of Teylers Museum in Haarlem. These objects, combined with the thousands of handwritten labels that have been... Show moreThis study examines the provenance of the mineralogy and palaeontology collections of Teylers Museum in Haarlem. These objects, combined with the thousands of handwritten labels that have been preserved, most of which date from the 18th century, are silent witnesses to a largely forgotten world of collecting practices, classifications, academic networks, commercial practices, debates on the nature of fossils and the formation of the earth’s crust, and much more besides. My research is an attempt to reveal the world behind these objects, all of which were once collected for Teylers Museum by the first Director Martinus van Marum (1750-1837). It seeks to give the collection back its voice. Combining the financial records of the Teylers Foundation with the minutes of meetings held by the directors and Teylers’s Second Society, as well as Van Marum’s travel journals, written records of public lectures, correspondence, and other manuscripts made it possible to reconstruct his purchases and to match labels to objects. When the entirety of Van Marum’s geological endeavours is surveyed, he emerges as more of a follower of scientific developments than a knowledge producer. He published very few articles in this field, and the ideas he presented in them were seldom new and sometimes misconceived. His activities in geology were not on a par with his great achievements in physics and chemistry. However, by virtue of his positions in the Teylers Foundation and the Holland Society of Sciences, as well as his publications on plant physiology and static electricity, he was regarded as one of the most influential scientists of his day. Show less
According to Einstein's theory of general relativity the light of an object is deflected by a mass in its foreground. The deflections can be very weak or so strong that they are visible by eye... Show moreAccording to Einstein's theory of general relativity the light of an object is deflected by a mass in its foreground. The deflections can be very weak or so strong that they are visible by eye yielding strangely distorted arcs or even multiple images of the same source. Measurements of strong or weak lensing let us infer the total mass of the light-deflecting object which is an important cosmological observable. In this thesis we employ gravitational lensing to measure key cosmological observables, such as dark matter and dark energy. Instead of observing the effects of gravitational lensing around single galaxies or galaxy clusters, the Universe itself can be used as a lens: light travelling to us through the cosmic large-scale structure is also weakly lensed by it. Measuring this effect at different cosmic times allows us to infer the evolution of structure in the cosmic web. Hence, we can study how that is affected by dark energy or massive neutrinos. A key result of this thesis is that we find a lower amplitude for the clustering of matter at fixed matter density than that inferred from the most recent measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation by the Planck satellite. Show less
With the rapid development of electronic commerce, logistics management has become more and more important in the procedure of supply chain management. The goal of logistics management is to... Show moreWith the rapid development of electronic commerce, logistics management has become more and more important in the procedure of supply chain management. The goal of logistics management is to satisfy the demands of customers while minimizing the use of resources of the whole process in logistics management from the point of origin to the point of consumption. The logistics management technology has been widely used in the field of engineering and contributes to reducing the total logistics cost. In this thesis, we focus on algorithms based on nature-inspired paradigms to solve dynamic logistics management problems. Results show that the proposed multiple ant system algorithm and the multi-objective cooperative particle swarm algorithm are able to produce good solutions for the vehicle routing problems and inventory routing problems not only in theory but also in practice. Show less
This thesis uses novel observations from the Low Frequency Array to address open questions on the topic of galaxy evolution. The highest resolution images at ultra low radio frequencies are used to... Show moreThis thesis uses novel observations from the Low Frequency Array to address open questions on the topic of galaxy evolution. The highest resolution images at ultra low radio frequencies are used to investigate the physical processes present in the radio emission from distant galaxies. Detections of spectral features from carbon atoms in a nearby galaxy are also presented and used to constrain the temperature and density of cold gas that is a key component of all galaxies. Show less
De Leidse hoogleraar theoretische fysica Paul Ehrenfest (1880-1933) was goed bevriend met Niels Bohr en Albert Einstein. In tegenstelling tot zijn beroemde tijdgenoten lag zijn kracht niet bij het... Show moreDe Leidse hoogleraar theoretische fysica Paul Ehrenfest (1880-1933) was goed bevriend met Niels Bohr en Albert Einstein. In tegenstelling tot zijn beroemde tijdgenoten lag zijn kracht niet bij het doen van grote ontdekkingen. Wel had hij een uitzonderlijk talent voor het verhelderen van complexe vraagstukken in de fysica. Het leven en werk van Ehrenfest biedt een intrigerend perspectief op de manier waarop wetenschappers uit dat tijdsgewricht hun weg probeerden te vinden in een periode van roerige wetenschappelijke, maatschappelijke en politieke ontwikkelingen. Behalve dat Ehrenfest een bloeiende onderzoeksschool opbouwde droeg hij ook bij aan de ontwikkeling en internationalisering van de Nederlandse natuurkunde, het universitaire onderwijs, en het ontstaan van een nieuw vakgebied __ de econometrie. Hij stimuleerde de ontwikkeling van de Russische en Amerikaanse theoretische fysica en versterkte de band tussen universiteit en industrie. Zijn tijdgenoten kenden Ehrenfest als een invloedrijk persoon die veel had bereikt. Tragisch is dat iedereen, behalve hij zelf, dat zag. Show less
This investigation is an attempt to gain a better understanding of the religious and socio-political organization of pre-colonial Tobabatak society. In literature the traditionally stateless... Show moreThis investigation is an attempt to gain a better understanding of the religious and socio-political organization of pre-colonial Tobabatak society. In literature the traditionally stateless Tobabatak society is usually depicted as being organized principally along kinship lines and there is still a widespread perception that in pre-colonial times there were no more highly developed political units than villages. Fieldwork, archival research, and research into old Tobabatak texts have produced a different picture. Tobabatak society did indeed never transform into statehood (in the sense of having a centralized government with the military power to enforce its decisions) but it had a functional alternative at its disposal: The many genuinely democratically organized ‘house-organizations’ (bius) of which the society consisted, each composed of thousands or even tens of thousands of members, were abl e to organize co-operation for the construction of irrigation-facilities and other communal projects (sometimes on a huge scale) and for the permanent infrastructure of hydraulic agriculture. Within these house-organizations the parbaringin as spiritual as well as political representatives of the smaller units of society on the higher levels, and the paniaran as the representatives of the women played a leading role without ever using any military might. Show less
