Elly Dekker

Elly Dekker
Born	Elisabeth Dekker 1943 (age 81–82) Haarlem, the Netherlands
Alma mater	University of Utrecht
Awards	Caird Medal
Scientific career
Fields	Astrophysics, history of astronomy
Institutions	Museum Boerhaave, Royal Museums Greenwich

Elisabeth "Elly" Dekker (born 1943) is a Dutch astronomer and science historian, specialising in the history of astronomy.

Biography

She studied theoretical physics and astronomy at Utrecht University. ^[1] In 1975 she obtained a PhD in astronomy at Leiden University with the thesis Spiral structure and the dynamics of flat stellar systems supervised by Hendrik C. van de Hulst. ^{[2] [3]} From 1978-1988 she was a curator of Museum Boerhaave in Leiden and afterwards an independent scholar. From 1993-1995 she was a Sackler fellow of the Royal Museums Greenwich. In 1998 she was awarded the Caird Medal for her work on the globe collection of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich. ^[4]

Dekker was married to the astronomer and physicist Hendrik Gerard (Henk) van Bueren (1925–2012). ^[5]

Publications

Dekker is the author of articles and books including: ^[1]

Articles

• 'Spiral structure and the dynamics of galaxies', Physics Reports 24 (1976) 315-389 ^[6]
• 'Jacobus C. Kapteyn (1852-1922)', in Kox, A.J. and Chamalaun, M. eds: Van Stevin tot Lorentz. Portretten van Nederlandse natuurwetenschappers, Amsterdam 1980, p. 177-191. In Dutch.
• 'Early Explorations of the Southern Celestial Sky', in Annals of Science 44 (1987) pp. 439-470. [About the mapping of the southern sky by Dutch mariners at the end of the 16th century.]
• 'Frederik Kaiser en zijn pogingen tot hervorming van ‘het sterrekundig deel van onze zeevaart', Gewina / Tijdschrift voor de Geschiedenis der Geneeskunde, Natuurwetenschappen, Wiskunde en Techniek TGGNWT 13 (1990) 23-41. In Dutch. ^[7]
• 'An Unrecorded Medieval Astrolabe Quadrant, c. 1300', in Annals of Science 52 (1995), pp. 1-47.
• 'Carolingian Planetary Observations: The Case of the Leiden Planetary Configuration', Journal for the History of Astronomy 39 (2008) 77-90
• 'A ‘Watermark’ of Eudoxan Astronomy', Journal for the History of Astronomy 39 (2008) 213-228
• 'Caspar Vopel's Ventures in Sixteenth-Century Celestial Cartography', Imago Mundi 62:2 (2010) 161-190
• with Kristen Lippincott: The provenance of the stars in the Leiden Aratea picture book, Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes eds. E.H. Gombrich et al. 73 2010 (2011), 1-37
• 'Construction and copy: aspects of the early history of celestial maps’, Beiträge zur Astronomiegeschichte, Band 13, Acta Historica Astronomiae, Vol. 58 (2016), pp. 47–93.
• 'The Nuremberg maps: a Pythagorean-Platonic view of the cosmos', Beiträge zur Astronomiegeschichte, Band 13, Acta Historica Astronomiae, 58 (2016), pp. 95–124

Books

• Spiral structure and the dynamics of flat stellar systems, PhD thesis Leiden : Rijksuniversiteit, 1975. 148 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
• with Peter van der Krogt: Globes from the Western World, London, Zwemmer, 1993 ^[8]
• with Raf Van Laere: De verbeelde wereld. Globes, atlassen, kaarten en meetinstrumenten uit de 16de en 17de eeuw, [Antwerpen] Kredietbank 1997. In Dutch.
• Globes at Greenwich: a catalogue of the globes and armillary spheres in the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Oxford University Press, 1999) ^[9]
• Catalogue of Orbs, Spheres and Globes, Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza, Cataloghi di raccolte scientifiche, 5. Firenze, Giunti, 2004 ^[10] 188 + 16 pp. of colour plates.
• Illustrating the Phaenomena: Celestial Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Oxford University Press, 2013 ^[11] , 467 p.

References

1. independent.academia.edu EllyDekker. Consulted on 12 February 2021.
2. van der Kruit, Pieter C. (2019), "Appendix A.4: Oort and His Students: a List of Ph.D. Theses", Jan Hendrik Oort, Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol. 459, Springer International Publishing, pp. 633–635, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-17801-7, ISBN   978-3-030-17800-0, S2CID   199240526
3. Elly Dekker at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
4. Campbell, Tony (January 1999), "Chronicle for 1998", Imago Mundi, 51 (1): 178–190, doi:10.1080/03085699908592910
5. See the acknowledgements of Dekker, Elly (2002), "The doctrine of the sphere: A forgotten chapter in the history of globes", Globe Studies, 49/50 (49/50): 25–44, JSTOR   23993546
6. Dekker, E (1976). "Spiral structure and the dynamics of galaxies" . Physics Reports. 24 (5): 315–389. Bibcode:1976PhR....24..315D. doi:10.1016/0370-1573(76)90025-9.
7. resources.huygens.knaw.nl Gewina: Tijdschrift voor de Geschiedenis der Geneeskunde, Natuurwetenschappen, Wiskunde en Techniek (1978-2007). Consulted on 12 February 2021.
8. Reviews of Globes from the Western World:
   • Allmayer-Beck, Peter E. (December 1995), Der Globusfreund, 43/44: 343–344, JSTOR   41622094
   • Baldwin, Robert (March 1996), The Geographical Journal, 162 (1): 83, doi:10.2307/3060220, JSTOR   3060220
9. Reviews of Globes at Greenwich:
   • Gingerich, Owen (August 2003), "Greenwich globes and armillary spheres", Journal for the History of Astronomy, 34 (3): 339–340, doi:10.1177/002182860303400313, S2CID   220915007
   • Heilbron, J. L. (March 2000), "Around the world via Greenwich", Nature, 404 (6773): 16–17, doi:10.1038/35003630, S2CID   3606118
   • Milanesi, Marica (January 2002), Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London, 56 (1): 108–110, JSTOR   532129
   • Mokre, Jan (2002), Globe Studies, 154–156, JSTOR   23993555 ; also in German in Der Globusfreund, JSTOR   41628645
   • Savage-Smith, Emilie (April 2002), Technology and Culture, 43 (2): 413–414, doi:10.1353/tech.2002.0089, JSTOR   25147920, S2CID   110642479
   • Warner, Deborah Jean (2001), Imago Mundi, 53: 160–161, JSTOR   1151589
10. Reviews of Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza:
    • Milanesi, Marica (2005), Globe Studies, 51/52: 145–147, JSTOR   23993604 ; also in German in Der Globusfreund, JSTOR   41628661
11. Reviews of Illustrating the Phaenomena:
    • Anderson, Benjamin (January 2014), Speculum, 89 (1): 188–189, doi:10.1017/S0038713413004326, JSTOR   43576978
    • Evans, James (March 2015), Isis, 106 (1): 166–167, doi:10.1086/681833, JSTOR   10.1086/681833
    • Ishak, B. (April 2013), Contemporary Physics, 54 (2): 129–130, doi:10.1080/00107514.2013.800159, S2CID   119057697
    • Mokre, Jan (2014), Globe Studies, 59/60: 230–231, JSTOR   44755486 ; also in German in Der Globusfreund, JSTOR   44753622
    • Strano, Giorgio (2015), Nuncius, 30 (3): 715–717, doi:10.1163/18253911-03003008
    • Warner, Deborah Jean (November 2013), Imago Mundi, 66 (1): 131–132, doi:10.1080/03085694.2014.846011, S2CID   128508667