Jan Borgman (30 November 1929 - May 26, 2021) was a Dutch astronomer and university administrator. He was professor of astronomical observation technique at the University of Groningen from 1968 to 1988. During this period he served as rector magnificus from 1978 to 1981 and chair of the board of governors from 1981 to 1988. Borgman subsequently became chairperson of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. [1]
Borgman was born in Groningen on 30 November 1929. [2] As a high school student Borgman together with Maarten Schmidt knocked on the door of the Groningen astronomical laboratory, to be informed by Adriaan Blaauw of the possibilities of a study of astronomy. [3] Borgman studied astronomy at the University of Groningen. Together with Pieter Johannes van Rhijn he did research on interstellar reddening with the use of the university telescope. [4]
In 1956 Borgman obtained his PhD in photometry under Hendrik Brinkman, with a dissertation titled Electronic scanning for variable stars. [5] He became lector in the field of astronomy in 1964. [2] In 1965 Borgman became director of the newly opened Kapteyn observatory (Dutch: Kapteyn Sterrenwacht) in Roden. [5] In 1968 he became professor of astronomical observation technique. At the observatory Borgman set up a work group in photometry, which later became involved with the Astronomical Netherlands Satellite. Borgman remained a professor at the university until 1988. [2] [4]
Borgman served as rector magnificus of the University of Groningen from 1978 to 1981. He was chair of the university board of governors from 1981 to 1988. [2] Borgman then moved to The Hague to become chairperson of the newly formed Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. [6] During this time he had to reorganize the underlying institutions. [7]
From 1994 to 1997 Borgman was the first chairman of the European Commission European Science and Technology Assembly. [8]
Borgman was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1978. [9]
Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn was a Dutch astronomer. He carried out extensive studies of the Milky Way. He found that the apparent movement of stars was not randomly distributed but had two preferential directions: the two star streams. This discovery was later reinterpreted as evidence for galactic rotation. Kapteyn also suggested that these stellar velocities could be used to find the amount of non-luminous matter in the galaxy.
Antonie "Anton" Pannekoek was a Dutch astronomer, historian, philosopher, Marxist theorist, and socialist revolutionary. He was one of the main theorists of council communism.
Jan Hendrik Oort was a Dutch astronomer who made significant contributions to the understanding of the Milky Way and who was a pioneer in the field of radio astronomy. The New York Times called him "one of the century's foremost explorers of the universe"; the European Space Agency website describes him as "one of the greatest astronomers of the 20th century" and states that he "revolutionised astronomy through his ground-breaking discoveries." In 1955, Oort's name appeared in Life magazine's list of the 100 most famous living people. He has been described as "putting the Netherlands in the forefront of postwar astronomy".
Willem de Sitter was a Dutch mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. The De Sitter universe is a cosmological model named after him.
Adriaan Blaauw was a Dutch astronomer.
Marius Job Cohen is a retired Dutch politician and jurist who served as Mayor of Amsterdam from 2001 to 2010 and Leader of the Labour Party (PvdA) from 2010 to 2012.
The Netherlands Film Festival is an annual film festival, held in September and October of each year in the city of Utrecht.
The Kapteyn Astronomical Institute is the department of astronomy of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Kenneth Charles Freeman is an Australian astronomer and astrophysicist who is currently Duffield Professor of Astronomy in the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Mount Stromlo Observatory of the Australian National University in Canberra. He was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1940, studied mathematics and physics at the University of Western Australia, and graduated with first class honours in applied mathematics in 1962. He then went to Cambridge University for postgraduate work in theoretical astrophysics with Leon Mestel and Donald Lynden-Bell, and completed his doctorate in 1965. Following a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Texas with Gérard de Vaucouleurs, and a research fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, he returned to Australia in 1967 as a Queen Elizabeth Fellow at Mount Stromlo. Apart from a year in the Kapteyn Institute in Groningen in 1976 and some occasional absences overseas, he has been at Mount Stromlo ever since.
Hendrik Johannes (Henny) van der Windt is a Dutch associate professor at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, specialized in the relationship between sustainability and science, in particular the relationship between nature conservation and ecology and between energy technologies, locale energy-initiatives and the energy transition.
Dora Dolz de Herman was a Spanish-Dutch artist, best known for her outdoor ceramic works in the form of chairs and sofas.
Tjitske Nienke"Cisca"Wijmenga is a Dutch professor of Human Genetics at the University of Groningen and the University Medical Center Groningen. She was Rector Magnificus of the University between September 2019 and September 2023.
Tjeerd Sicco van Albada is a Dutch astronomer and emeritus professor of Astronomy at the University of Groningen.
Adriaan Jan Wesselink (1909–1995) was a Dutch astronomer who worked successively in the Netherlands, South Africa and the United States. He specialised in observing and understanding the characteristics of stars, particularly variable stars.
Monique de Vries is a Dutch politician and has been with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy since 1973. From the period 1994-2003 she was the Secretary of State of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. and a member of the House of Representatives.
Stuart Pottasch was a professor at the University of Groningen and a researcher of planetary nebulae.
Amina Helmi is an Argentine astronomer and professor at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Harm Tjalling "Tjalling" Waterbolk was a Dutch archaeologist. He was a professor of archaeology and director of the Biological-Archaeological Institute at the University of Groningen between 1954 and 1987.
Cornelis Easton was a Dutch journalist and amateur astronomer who wrote popular material on astronomy and climatology apart from giving lectures. As a journalist he worked with the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant (1895–1906), Nieuws van den Dag (1906–1923), and Haagsche Post. In his first book, he was among the first to postulate a spiral structure for the Milky Way galaxy in which he located the solar system on the edge. A street in Dordrecht is named after him.
Anne-Lot Hoek is a Dutch historian, independent researcher and author. She writes historical non-fiction, articles and academic publications, with a focus on colonial history and the independence struggle in South-Africa, Namibia and Indonesia.
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