Talk:Marcel Minnaert

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The following text was put into Category:Dutch astronomers. Might be useful in expanding this page; might not. Maestlin 23:24, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

M.G.J.Minnaert Born in Brugge,Belgium, 1893; died in Utrecht, Netherlands 1970. Ph.D. Biology and subsequently professor of biology, in Ghent, Belgium. Moved to the Netherlands in 1918, where he Studied physics in Leiden and Utrecht. Ph.D. in solar physics Utrecht University. Became professor of Astronomy at Utrecht University and Director of Utrecht Observatory in 1937. Retired in 1963. e was one of the foremost scientists in solar and stellar physics in the world. He difeined the concept of Equivalent Width of a spectral line, and invented the "curve of growth" method by means of which one can determine the precise chemical composition of the sun and stars from their spectra. Was member of the Royal Nethelands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Was honored for his work with the Bruce medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (San Francisco) and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society of London, as well as by a lunar crater in his name. Was an outstanding teacher and didact, and initator of highschool teachers education in Utrecht University and in the Netherlands. Utrecht University named one of its most prominent building on the University campus after Minnaert.

• Thanks for pasting this here. However, I think most of this is already in the article. Baszoetekouw 23:37, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Minnaert’s citizenship

Günther P. Können, Soest, The Netherlands

Private Document 2011/01

23 May 2011

Abstract

There is some confusion about the nationality of the Belgium-born Dutch astronomy professor Minnaert (author of Light and Colour in the Open Air). Historically, the best way is to call him either a ‘Dutch astronomer’ or a ‘Belgium-born Dutch astronomer’.

1. Background

Minnaert was born in 1893 in Brugge (Belgium), got his first PhD in biology in 1914 (Gent, Belgium) and a second PhD in 1925 astronomy in Utrecht (Netherlands). In his Belgium years, he considered himself as ‘Great-Dutch’, that is: member of a virtual merge between Dutch-speaking Belgium (Flanders) and the Netherlands. He was a language activist, promoting Dutch teaching at the universities. During World War I, he taught at the Flemish University, founded with the support of the German occupier. To escape a trail for collaboration, he fled by the end of WWI to the Netherlands (and got asylum – just as the German Emperor Wilhelm II had gotten), and was banned from Belgium. He changed nationality and discipline, and became professor in astronomy in Utrecht.

2. Minnaert’s citizenship

I inquired on 21 May 2011 by phone with Cornelis de Jager, PhD student of Minnaert and his successor as astronomy professor (born 1921) about the attitude of Minnaert with respect to his citizenship.De Jager told me that Minnaert still considered himself as Dutch (or Great-Dutch). He disliked to be addressed as Belgian (as is nowadays done in e.g. Wikipedia1 ). He never introduced himself as such. This information is consistent with my own observation: once I witnessed that when he showed some French guests his observatory, one of them expressed his surprise about Minnaert’s excellent French. Minnaert’s only comment was ‘Je suis né en Belgique’ – with no hint that he considered himself Belgian. In line with this is how my father considered himself: born in Austria (1913), he went to the Netherlands at the age of 6. He considered himself as an Austrian-born Dutchman. De Jager told me that I would do Minnaert a posthumous favour when I present him either as ‘Dutch astronomer’ or as ‘Belgium-born Dutch astronomer’. Reference

1. Wikipedia, Marcel Minnaert, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnaert — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pcirrus2 (talk • contribs) 22:46, 16 September 2013 (UTC)