Balthasar van der Pol
Balthasar van der Pol | |
|---|---|
 Van der Pol in 1939 | |
| Born | 27 January 1889 Utrecht, Netherlands |
| Died | 6 October 1959 (aged 70) Wassenaar, South Holland, Netherlands |
| Alma mater | Utrecht University (PhD) |
| Known for | Van der Pol oscillator |
| Spouse |
Pietronetta Posthuma
(m. 1917) |
| Children | 3 |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions |
|
| Thesis | De invloed van een geioniseerd gas op het voortschrijden van electromagnetische golven en toepassingen daarvan op het gebied der draadlooze telegraphie en bij metingen van glimlichtontladingen (1920) |
| Doctoral advisor | Willem Henri Julius |
Balthasar van der Pol (1889–1959) was a Dutch physicist known for the van der Pol oscillator.
Biography
[edit]Balthasar van der Pol was born on 27 January 1889 in Utrecht, Netherlands, the son of Balthazar van der Pol and Gerhardina Clasina Steffens. From 1911 to 1916, he studied physics at Utrecht University. After graduation, he travelled to England, where he worked under Ambrose Fleming at University College London and J. J. Thomson at the University of Cambridge.[1] While in England, he studied the heuristics of wireless reception onboard ships.[2]
On 2 June 1917 in London, van der Pol married Pietronetta Posthuma, with whom he had a son and two daughters.
In 1919, upon his return to the Netherlands, van der Pol became an assistant to Hendrik Lorentz at Teylers Museum in Harlem and returned to Utrecht University. The following year, he received his Ph.D. under Willem Henri Julius at Utrecht.[1]
In 1922, van der Pol joined Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, where he worked until his retirement in 1949. In addition, he was appointed Professor of Theoretical Electricity at Technische Hogeschool Delft (now Delft University of Technology) in 1938.[1]
Van der Pol died on 6 October 1959 in Wassenaar at the age of 70.
Research
[edit]As observed by Hendrik Casimir, "Radio might have remained a field of haphazard empiricism along with wild commercial ventures, but for the influence of men like Van der Pol who stressed the need for a more scientific approach."[3]
The differential equations of coupled electrical systems drew his interest, and he developed the idea of "relaxation oscillations".[4][5] With J. van der Mark he applied the idea to the heartbeat,[6] which provided one of the earliest quantitative models of the action potential. These studies led him to the van der Pol equation and Oliver Heaviside’s operational calculus for dealing with differential equations. He submitted articles to Philosophical Magazine on the operational calculus and, in coordination with H. Bremmer, wrote Modern Operational Calculus based on the Two-sided Laplace Integral, published by Cambridge University Press.
Awards and honours
[edit]In 1935, van der Pol was awarded the Medal of Honor by the Institute of Radio Engineers "for his fundamental studies and contributions in the field of circuit theory and electromagnetic wave propagation phenomena".
The asteroid 10443 van der Pol is named after him.
In 1949, van der Pol became a Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[7]
Works
[edit]- 1928: (with J van der Mark) The Heartbeat considered as a Relaxation oscillation, and an Electrical Model of the Heart. Phil. Mag. Suppl. No. 6 pp 763–775
- 1947: An electro-mechanical investigation of the Riemann zeta function in the critical strip, Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society 53: 976–81 MR 0022712
- 1964: (with H. Bremmer) Operational Calculus Cambridge University Press
- 1960: Selected Scientific Papers, North-Holland Two volumes
References
[edit]- ^ a b c O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Balthasar van der Pol", MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, University of St Andrews
- ^ B. van der Pol (1917) "A note on the relation of the audibility factor of a shunted telephone to the antenna circuit as used in the reception of wireless signals", Philosophical Magazine 34: 184–8
- ^ Hendrik Casimir (1960) "Introduction" to Balthasar van der Pol: Selected Scientific Papers, North-Holland
- ^ B. van der Pol (1926) "On relaxation-oscillations", Philosophical Magazine 2: 978–92
- ^ Jean-Marc Ginoux (2012) "Van der Pol and the history of relaxation oscillations: Toward the emergence of a concept", Chaos 22 doi:10.1063/1.3670008
- ^ B. van der Pol and J. van der Mark (1929) "The heartbeat considered as a relaxation-oscillation, and an electrical model of the heart", Philosophical Magazine 6: 673–75
- ^ "Balthasar van der Pol (1889 - 1959)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
- December 1917: Balth van der Pol, Personalities in Wireless, Wireless World, page 592.
- H Bremmer (1960,1) The Scientific Work of Balthasar van der Pol, Philips Technical Review 22
- Dr. Balthsar van der Pol (1889-1959) from Philips archives
- Giorgio Israel (2004) "Technological Innovation and New Mathematics: van der Pol and the birth of non-linear dynamics", pages 52 to 77 in Technological Concepts and Mathematical Models in the Evolution of Modern Engineering Systems, edited by Ana Milian Gasca and others, Birkhäuser
- Balthasar Van der Pol at IEEE.org
- Balthasar van der Pol at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
- 1889 births
- 1959 deaths
- 20th-century Dutch physicists
- IEEE Medal of Honor recipients
- Scientists from Utrecht (city)
- Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology
- Utrecht University alumni
- Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 20th-century Dutch inventors
- Valdemar Poulsen Gold Medal recipients