2
Boarding School and University
You will never finish with your family,
that is just like chicken pox, which you get in your youth
and throughout your life it leaves its mark.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980)
Mathematics is the gateway and the key to all science.
Roger Bacon (c.1214–1294)
The middle of the nineteenth century was a time of reform in the Netherlands. In 1848, King Willem II (1792–1849), who had succeeded his father
in 1840, feared that the various popular uprisings in Europe would spread to
the Netherlands. To turn the tide, or at least to be ahead of it, he invited the
Second Chamber (House of Representatives) of Parliament to set up a committee to prepare a major revision of the Constitution. This committee was
headed by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke (1798–1872), who was a follower of
liberalism, and gave its advice so quickly in the form of a draft revision, that
it already came into force later that same year as the Constitution of 1848.
The power came largely in the hands of the people’s representatives. Ministers
became responsible for policy and administration and also for the actions of
the King, who became inviolable. From now on, the Parliament was elected
by the people, 1 the House of Representatives directly and the Senate by the
Provincial Councils. The Netherlands became a Constitutional Monarchy, and
still is.
1 That is to say only men voted, and then not even all of them. Somewhat later, persons graduating from
a university automatically obtained voting rights. It took until 1917 before all men would have the right
to vote; women followed in 1919.
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
P. C. van der Kruit, Pioneer of Galactic Astronomy: A Biography of Jacobus C. Kapteyn,
Springer Biographies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55423-1_2
9
Boarding School and University
You will never finish with your family,
that is just like chicken pox, which you get in your youth
and throughout your life it leaves its mark.
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905–1980)
Mathematics is the gateway and the key to all science.
Roger Bacon (c.1214–1294)
The middle of the nineteenth century was a time of reform in the Netherlands. In 1848, King Willem II (1792–1849), who had succeeded his father
in 1840, feared that the various popular uprisings in Europe would spread to
the Netherlands. To turn the tide, or at least to be ahead of it, he invited the
Second Chamber (House of Representatives) of Parliament to set up a committee to prepare a major revision of the Constitution. This committee was
headed by Johan Rudolph Thorbecke (1798–1872), who was a follower of
liberalism, and gave its advice so quickly in the form of a draft revision, that
it already came into force later that same year as the Constitution of 1848.
The power came largely in the hands of the people’s representatives. Ministers
became responsible for policy and administration and also for the actions of
the King, who became inviolable. From now on, the Parliament was elected
by the people, 1 the House of Representatives directly and the Senate by the
Provincial Councils. The Netherlands became a Constitutional Monarchy, and
still is.
1 That is to say only men voted, and then not even all of them. Somewhat later, persons graduating from
a university automatically obtained voting rights. It took until 1917 before all men would have the right
to vote; women followed in 1919.
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license
to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
P. C. van der Kruit, Pioneer of Galactic Astronomy: A Biography of Jacobus C. Kapteyn,
Springer Biographies, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55423-1_2
9