4
Observator and Professor
I was born on January 8, 1942, exactly three hundred years
after the death of Galileo. I estimate, however,
that about two hundred thousand other babies were also born that day.
I don’t know whether any of them was later interested in astronomy.
Stephen William Hawking (1942–2018)
It is no prudence, but a waste of the Kingdom’s money
to appoint a professor without supplying him
with the indispensables for his teaching.
Jonkheer Bernard Hendrik Cornelis Karel van der Wijck (1836–1925)
Both Henriette Hertzsprung–Kapteyn in her biography [1] of her father
Jacobus Kapteyn as well as various writers of obituaries or other articles about
Kapteyn suggested that he had become an astronomer accidentally. He obtained his doctoral degree in Utrecht with a dissertation in mathematics; it is
stated that he subsequently heard by chance that a position as observator at the
Sterrewacht Leiden had become vacant, to which he applied successfully. But
this assumption is not consistent with what we know of his great interest in
astronomy, as can be seen, for example, from the star map he made as a teenager
and the astronomical propositions presented for his PhD thesis defense.
Bernhard Jonkheer (Squire) Hendrik van der Wijck was professor of philosophy and literature at the
University of Groningen. This quote is from his lecture on the occasion of the end of his term as Rector
Magnificus in 1879 [1].
© 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_4
45
Observator and Professor
I was born on January 8, 1942, exactly three hundred years
after the death of Galileo. I estimate, however,
that about two hundred thousand other babies were also born that day.
I don’t know whether any of them was later interested in astronomy.
Stephen William Hawking (1942–2018)
It is no prudence, but a waste of the Kingdom’s money
to appoint a professor without supplying him
with the indispensables for his teaching.
Jonkheer Bernard Hendrik Cornelis Karel van der Wijck (1836–1925)
Both Henriette Hertzsprung–Kapteyn in her biography [1] of her father
Jacobus Kapteyn as well as various writers of obituaries or other articles about
Kapteyn suggested that he had become an astronomer accidentally. He obtained his doctoral degree in Utrecht with a dissertation in mathematics; it is
stated that he subsequently heard by chance that a position as observator at the
Sterrewacht Leiden had become vacant, to which he applied successfully. But
this assumption is not consistent with what we know of his great interest in
astronomy, as can be seen, for example, from the star map he made as a teenager
and the astronomical propositions presented for his PhD thesis defense.
Bernhard Jonkheer (Squire) Hendrik van der Wijck was professor of philosophy and literature at the
University of Groningen. This quote is from his lecture on the occasion of the end of his term as Rector
Magnificus in 1879 [1].
© 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_4
45