156
8 In the Meantime in Groningen
time in America in the train he had lost his wallet; after a desperate search the
black conductor was consulted, ‘Just look under your pillow, Sir,’ was his advice.
And indeed, that is where the wallet was!
The laboratory’s clerks, whose numbers grew all the time, were completely devoted to him. They were filled with a reverent love and an unshakable faith. And
that was no wonder, for he sympathized with them in their joys and personal difficulties, supported and counseled where life became a burden, had infinite trust,
and was, as they all felt, like a father to them. In his laboratory the tidy, serene
atmosphere, which Kapteyn brought with him, where ever he was, and which
brightened the work, which was often endlessly mechanical and tedious, for
them all. His radiant optimism helped them through many difficulties. Come,
let us get started and then we will find out how to get on. We will survive.’
And then, when the problem was faced with courage, the difficulties were solved
automatically.
The afternoons were for contact with the outside world: his lectures, meetings,
exams, his walks, including the regular Monday afternoon walk with two faithful friends Prof. Heymans, the philosopher, and the historian Prof. Boissevain.
The threesome was a familiar appearance on the road to Haren every Monday.
Heymans in the middle, the tall impressive figure in the peregrine coat with a
distant view and his spirit well above the ordinary human fuss, Boissevain, small
and thin, agile and full of lively interest, Kapteyn on the other side, slim and
animated, enjoying the outdoors and the interesting things, that each of them
discussed about their work and experiences, at the same time noticing and recognizing every bird call. They walked to Haren, a village an hour away from
Groningen, and never changed that habit. For 20 years they persisted, and it
was remarkable, they noticed, how seldom the infamous Dutch winter weather
forced them to forego the walk. It did happen, especially in later years, that at the
beginning of the walk they entered the pub ‘De Passage’ [the passing, transit],
and sat there talking and then come home just as content. It was a beautiful
friendship, full of mutual admiration and appreciation.
Ursul Philip Boissevain (1855–1930) was a professor of ancient history,
Gerardus Heymans (1857–1930) professor of philosophy and psychology. The
latter (see Fig. 8.3) was specialized in what he called ‘special psychology’, for
which he conducted surveys among large numbers of test persons on the basis of
questionnaires. He had set up a psychological laboratory for this purpose, where
he had derived character traits of persons from a hundred or so biographies. It
is said that a considerable amount of the mathematical work needed to process
these lists and to find correlations between the character traits was done by the
‘calculators’ in Kapteyn’s laboratory. This may very well be possible.
Heymans was also interested in differences between men and women. He
researched this with questionnaires that he asked professors and lecturers at
8 In the Meantime in Groningen
time in America in the train he had lost his wallet; after a desperate search the
black conductor was consulted, ‘Just look under your pillow, Sir,’ was his advice.
And indeed, that is where the wallet was!
The laboratory’s clerks, whose numbers grew all the time, were completely devoted to him. They were filled with a reverent love and an unshakable faith. And
that was no wonder, for he sympathized with them in their joys and personal difficulties, supported and counseled where life became a burden, had infinite trust,
and was, as they all felt, like a father to them. In his laboratory the tidy, serene
atmosphere, which Kapteyn brought with him, where ever he was, and which
brightened the work, which was often endlessly mechanical and tedious, for
them all. His radiant optimism helped them through many difficulties. Come,
let us get started and then we will find out how to get on. We will survive.’
And then, when the problem was faced with courage, the difficulties were solved
automatically.
The afternoons were for contact with the outside world: his lectures, meetings,
exams, his walks, including the regular Monday afternoon walk with two faithful friends Prof. Heymans, the philosopher, and the historian Prof. Boissevain.
The threesome was a familiar appearance on the road to Haren every Monday.
Heymans in the middle, the tall impressive figure in the peregrine coat with a
distant view and his spirit well above the ordinary human fuss, Boissevain, small
and thin, agile and full of lively interest, Kapteyn on the other side, slim and
animated, enjoying the outdoors and the interesting things, that each of them
discussed about their work and experiences, at the same time noticing and recognizing every bird call. They walked to Haren, a village an hour away from
Groningen, and never changed that habit. For 20 years they persisted, and it
was remarkable, they noticed, how seldom the infamous Dutch winter weather
forced them to forego the walk. It did happen, especially in later years, that at the
beginning of the walk they entered the pub ‘De Passage’ [the passing, transit],
and sat there talking and then come home just as content. It was a beautiful
friendship, full of mutual admiration and appreciation.
Ursul Philip Boissevain (1855–1930) was a professor of ancient history,
Gerardus Heymans (1857–1930) professor of philosophy and psychology. The
latter (see Fig. 8.3) was specialized in what he called ‘special psychology’, for
which he conducted surveys among large numbers of test persons on the basis of
questionnaires. He had set up a psychological laboratory for this purpose, where
he had derived character traits of persons from a hundred or so biographies. It
is said that a considerable amount of the mathematical work needed to process
these lists and to find correlations between the character traits was done by the
‘calculators’ in Kapteyn’s laboratory. This may very well be possible.
Heymans was also interested in differences between men and women. He
researched this with questionnaires that he asked professors and lecturers at