Piet van der Kruit Home Page
GRONINGEN WEATHER


Homepage of Piet van der Kruit


Prof. dr P.C. van der Kruit
Emeritus Jacobus C. Kapteyn Distinguished Professor of Astronomy
Kapteyn Astronomical Institute
University of Groningen
P.O. Box 800, 9700 AV Groningen, the Netherlands
Tel.: +31 50 363 4062 / 4073
E-mail: vdkruit@astro.rug.nl




Curriculum vitae, etc.

Here are my curriculum vitae and publication list.

And my academic genealogy.




Recent publications on the history of astronomy

I have written a paper on the portraits that famous Dutch painter Jan Veth made of Kapteyn, with the title Jan Veth's paintings of Jacobus Kapteyn, which has been published by the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. It appeared in the September 2024 issue. Here is a an extended preprint version and with high-res. pictures.

I have published a paper on the Galactic work of Anton Pannekoek with the title Pannekoek's Galaxy, which has been published by the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. It appeared in the March 2024 issue. Here is a preprint. with high-res figures.

By invitation by the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage I have written a 'Reminiscences' article, entitled Excited states and spontaneous transitions: Astronomer, lecturer, administrator, biographer. This autobiographical article concentrates on my scientific career and has been published in the March 2023 issue. The prerint version has sharper photographs.



I have published a paper on the life and work of Pieter J. van Rhijn with the title Pieter Johannes van Rhijn, Kapteyn's Astronomical Laboratory and the Plan of Selected Areas, which has been published by the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. It appeared in the September 2022 issue. Here is a preprint. with high-res figures.

I have published a paper on the honorary doctorates bestowed by Jacobus Kapteyn with the title Karl Schwarzschild, Annie J. Cannon and Cornelis Easton: the honorary PhDs of Jacobus C. Kapteyn, which has been published by the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage. It appeared in the June 2021 issue. Here is an extended preprint. with high-res figures.

Recent presentations

Dit is mijn presentatie (in het Nederlands) op het mini-symposium ter gelegenheid van mijn 80-e verjaardag (eigenlijk op 18 september 2024), dat is gehouden op 18 october 2024. Het was mij aangeboden door het Kapteyn Astronomical Institute en het Koninklijk Natuurkundig Genootschap. Hieronder het programma en de groepsfoto met alle deelnemers.


De links met de registratie van de lezingen zijn:
Piet's 80 symposium Deel 1 tot aan de break
Piet's 80 symposium Deel 2
Er zijn drie sets foto's gemaakt. Deze zijn beschikbaar als zipped directories. De foto's zijn van Roelof de Jong, George Huitema, en het Kapteyn Instituut, de laatste set gemaakt door Reyer Boxem Photography.

Here you can download the recent Webinar on Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn (1851-1922) in the series Lectures on Astronomical History and Heritage on September 16, 2023.

Dit is mijn presentatie (in het Nederlands) ter gelegenheid van mijn aftreden na 22 jaar als voorzitter van het Bestuur van het Koninklijk Natuurkundig Genootschap op 25 augustus 2020.






Biographies of Jacobus Kapteyn and Jan Oort

After my retirement I have written biographies of the founder of my Institute Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn (1851-1922), after which my distinguished chair in Groningen has been named, and of his student Jan Hendrik Oort (1900-1992), director of Leiden Observatory, who was my PhD thesis supervisor.
These have been in the form of first a comprehesive, scientific biography in English in the Springer Astrophysics and Space Science Library, and later two wider audience versions, one in Dutch (with Amsterdam University Press and Prometheus Publishers) and in English translation in the Springer Biographies series.


Visit the Webpage accompanying the biographies of J.C. Kapteyn.
Look at a short video on Kapteyn produced at the occasion of the fourth centennial of the university in 2014 (in Dutch with English undertitles), or for those speaking Dutch een ongeveer een uur durend interview.


Visit the Webpage accompanying the biographies of J.H. Oort.

In 2021 I wrote a paper on the honorary doctorates that were bestowed by Kapteyn and the University of Groningen: Karl Schwarzschild, Annie J. Cannon and Cornelis Easton: PhDs honoris causa of Jacobus C. Kapteyn (preprint). Its was published in the Journal for Astronomical History and Heritage. Here is the journal paper .

And in 2022 I wrote a paper on the history of the Kapteyn Laboratory under Kapteyn's successor van Rhijn: Pieter Johannes van Rhijn, Kapteyns Astronomical Laboratory and the Plan of Selected S'Areas. It was published in the Journal for Astronomical History and Heritage.

Kapteyn died on June 18, 1922. On the occasion of the centenary of Kapteyn's death in 2022, I wrote a Dutch/English booklet on the history of the Kapteyn Laboratory and Institute. It was presented with a short lecture to the Chairman of the Governing Board of Groningen University on June 17. I gave a presentation on Kapteyn on June 18 in Leiden at the old Sterrewacht.



Astronomical news and images


For the latest astronomy news see Universe Today. Of in het Nederlands astronomie.nl.

Astronomical Images

Astronomy Picture of the Day


Hubble Picture of the Week
Hubble Heritage Gallery
Hubble Space Telescope
European Southern Observatory
ESO Top 100 Images
Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes, La Palma
Canadian-French-Hawaiian Telescope
National Optical Astronomy Observatories
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Sloan Digital Sky Survey
Third Revised Catalog of Galaxies RC3
A Gallery of Messier Objects


This is a new version of my homepage. Click for the old version.