Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T17:11:36.902Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

History of Science Today, 2.: History of Science in the Netherlands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

H. A. M. Snelders
Affiliation:
Rijksuniversiteit te Utrecht, Instituut voor Geschiedenis der Natuurwetenschappen, Janskerhof 30, 3512 BN Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Extract

After Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff had passed away on 1 March 1911, his pupil Charles Marinus van Deventer (1860–1931) wrote a very personal ‘in memoriam’ in the Dutch literary periodical De Gids, pointing out that van't Hoff had merely been interested in scientific facts, not in the people discovering these facts. Van't Hoff considered the study of the history of chemistry, although by no means uncongenial, a matter of little importance. He once even said: ‘To me historical research appears to be appropriate for a chemist in the decline of life, when he no longer creates professional ideas, and when the laboratory has become a burden to him’. Although van Deventer had studied physical chemistry at van't Hoff's Amsterdam laboratory and had been his assistant from 1885 until 1893, he disagreed with this verdict. Van Deventer was not only a capable physical chemist, he was also an active member of the Tachtigers, a circle of Dutch poets who around 1880 brought about a renewal in Dutch literature. He took a special interest in Greek philosophy. He did not graduate with van't Hoff, but with his colleague Jan Willem Gunning (1827–1900). His thesis was not based on physical-chemical, but on historical research: Schetsen uit de Geschiedenis van de Scheikunde (‘Sketches from the history of chemistry’; 13 December 1884). From 1922 to 1923 he lectured on the history of chemistry at Utrecht University. His fascinating lectures were published as Grepen uit de Historie der Chemie (‘Choices from the history of chemistry’; 1924). This work reveals his particular interest in the development of chemical concepts.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © British Society for the History of Science 1987

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 van Deventer, Ch.M., ‘Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff. 1852–1911. In memoriam’, De Gids 75, (1911), part 2, pp. 138155.Google Scholar

2 Van Deventer, , op. cit. (1), p. 147.Google Scholar

3 van Berkel, K., In het Voetspoor van Stevin. Geschiedenis van de Natuurwetenschap in Nederland. 1580–1940, Meppel, Amsterdam, 1985.Google Scholar

4 Rudwick, M.J.S., The History of the Natural Sciences as Cultural History, Amsterdam, 1975.Google Scholar

5 Hooykaas, R., ‘De geschiedenis der natuurwetenschappen’. In: Scientia. Handboek voor Wetenschap, Kunst en Religie (ed. Dijksterhuis, E.J.), Zeist, 1957, Vol. III, pp. 405436Google Scholar (408–410).

6 Dijksterhuis, E.J., Simon Stevin, 's-Gravenhage, 1943.Google Scholar An abridged English edition appeared as: Simon Stevin. Science in the Netherlands Round 1600, The Hague, 1970.Google Scholar

7 Hooykaas, , op. cit. (5), p. 409.Google Scholar

8 Rudwick, , op. cit. (4), p. 8.Google Scholar

9 Hooykaas, , op. cit. (5), p. 406.Google Scholar

10 Dijksterhuis, , Doel en methode van de geschiedenis der exacte wetenschappen, Amsterdam, 1953, p. 13.Google Scholar

11 Dijksterhuis, , op. cit. (10), p. 20.Google Scholar

12 Hooykaas, , ‘Wissenschaftsgeschichte—eine Brücke zwischen Natur-und Geisteswissenschaften’, Berichte zur Wissenschaftsgeschichte, (1982), 5, pp. 153172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 Van Berkel, , ‘Problemen rond integratie en specialisatie in de wetenschapsgeschiedenis: de “molecuultheorie van Isaac Beeckman”’, De zeventiende eeuw, (1986), 2, pp. 4156.Google Scholar

14 Snelders, H.A.M., Darwins ‘strijd om het bestaan’ en de evolutie in de niet-levende natuur, Amsterdam, 1983, p. 15.Google Scholar Cf. Terugzien naar bet verleden, een les voor het heden, Wageningen, 1979.Google Scholar

15 Palm, L.C., ‘De emancipatie van de wetenschapsgeschiedenis in Nederland: van scientia naar historia’Google Scholar, unpublished manuscript. I am grateful to Lodewijk Palm for discussions on the contents of this paper.