Johannes Van Der Jr Waals

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Dutch physicist, professor in theoretical physics and natural philosopher. He was the youngest child of Noble Prize winner Johannes Diderik van der Waals (23 November 1837, Leiden – 8 March 1923, Amsterdam) and Anna Magdalena Smit (18 February 1847, Leiden - 28 December 1881, Nieuwer Amstel). They married 27 September 1865 at Leiden and got four children: Anne Madelaine (1866-1937), Jacqueline Elisabeth (1868-1922), Johanna Diederika (1871-1962) and Johannes Diderik (1873-1971). He was born in Amsterdam 9 weeks after his father dissertated on the thermodynamic Equation of state. He followed the Amsterdam Gymnasium and studied Mathematics and Physics at the the University of Amsterdam (UvA). He did on 15 February 1895 the Candidate exam, on 16 March 1898 the Doctoral exam. He dissertated Friday 21 December 1900 at 4 PM cum laude at the UvA on "Statistische behandeling der stralingsverschijnselen" (Statistical treatment of the radiation phenomena). The promoter was his father. Van der Waals Jr. also considered entropy as a statistical chance phenomenon explaining the occurrence of unexpected irreversible happenings that suddenly appeared in the seemingly static equilibrate states in physical nature. From 1898 till 1900 he was an assistant of professor Remmelt Sissingh and till 1901 teacher in Mathematics at an HBS in Amsterdam. In 1903 he became a private lecturer in kinetic gas theory at the UvA. His first lecture was on "Statistische natuurbeschouwing" (Statistical Natural philosophy, 28 January 1903, A'dam). The same year he was elected as professor of theoretical physics at Groningen University. Here his inaugural speech was "De hypothesen in de natuurkunde" (Hypotheses in Physics, 23 September 1903, Aleph books, Groningen). On 1 September 1908 he was elected to succeed his father as the professor in theoretical physics in Amsterdam. His inaugural speech on 18 January 1909 was dedicated to his father : Over de vraag naar de meest fundamenteele wetten der natuur (About the questions of most fundamental laws in nature). He held his UvA professor post till he retired 20 September 1943. In 1926 he wrote a comprehensive article about his fathers equation on thermodynamics in the 1st edition of "Handbuch der Physik". And he also eagerly followed the developments in quantum mechanics. In 1925 Van der Waals, Jr. became a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science (KNAW). In 1931 Van der Waals became rector magnificus at the UvA. He was an "uomo universalis" not fixed in an Ivory Stone Castle, but a broad-minded person who was also very interested in philosophy of science and culture, languages and literature. Since 1901 he was a contributor and later an editor of the cultural magazines like "De Gids" (The guide) and "Onze eeuw" (Our century). He became a natural philosopher that explained modern scientific ideas (dynamic thermodynamics versus steady state equilibria, quantum mechanics versus "eternal" Newtonian laws) into our daily thinking practice. His first contribution to "Onze eeuw" (our time) dealt with the question of determinism versus freedom: "Eenige opmerkingen naar aanleiding van het vrijheidsprobleem" (Some remarks on the freedom problem). He also wrote about the phenomenon time in "Over het meten van den tijd" (1917). One of his latest essays, long after his retirement was on "De Duke of Albany in King Lear" (1964). Personal On 14 January 1902 he married the 25 years old Jennigje Hendrika Jacoba Jonker (1 October 1877, Amsterdam - 2 August 1947, Amsterdam) at Maartensdijk . They got between 1903 and 1912 two daughters and three sons. On 8 May 1971 he died in Amsterdam. Link to Dutch Wikipedia