Speakers and abstracts

Jelmer Heeren

Jelmer Heeren studied history, theology and philosophy at VU Amsterdam, the Evangelical Theological Faculty Leuven and the University of Amsterdam. He is currently a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Religion and Theology, VU Amsterdam, exploring the meaning of the work of Dutch historian of science Reijer Hooykaas (1906-1994). Although Hooykaas was active in fields such as the history of chemistry, geology and the Voyages of Discovery, Jelmer focusses on Hooykaas’ contributions to the historiography of science and religion. The project is co-financed by the VUvereniging.

Moving away from the scientist as heroic genius: twentieth-century historiography of science through the eyes of Reijer Hooykaas.

I chronicle the changing ways in which, broadly speaking, twentieth-century historians of science have conceived of “heroes” in science. Firstly, I describe how the image of the genius scientist who unearthed certain, “positive” knowledge was discarded by the first generation of professional historians of science in the first half of the twentieth century. Secondly, I explain how subsequent contextualization waves from the 1960s onwards caused a further decrease of strongly positive evaluations of individual scientists in professional historiographical works. In order to both limit the scope as well as to provide specific examples, I use the work of Dutch historian of science Reijer Hooykaas as a looking glass through which to describe the broader developments in the historiography of science.

Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede

Pernilla Wittung-Stafshede obtained a PhD in Physical Chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1996, followed by a postdoc at California Institute of Technology, Pasadena. In 1999, she started as an assistant professor in Chemistry at Tulane University, New Orleans, where she received tenure in 2002. In 2004 she moved to Rice University, Houston, and returned to Sweden in 2008 to become a chemistry professor at Umeå University, followed by, in 2015, a move to Chalmers. Her research centers around protein biophysics, with focus on copper transport and amyloid formation, and she has published over 260 peer-reviewed research articles. She is member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of the Sciences. She started Genie (Gender Initiative for Excellence) at Chalmers (www.chalmers.se/genie) in 2019 and led it until 2022.

Female Faculty: Why so Few and why Care?

The fraction female professors at universities around the world remains low, including in Sweden - one of the world’s most gender equal countries. Female researchers in academia experience unconscious bias and sometimes even harassments that hamper their careers. Today, there are many scientific studies that demonstrate bias against women in academia, and this includes prizes and awards. In my presentation, I will bring up the most common misconceptions around gender-equality and show, using scientific evidence, that those statements are wrong. I will also discuss possible solutions and the process around Nobel prizes.

Ad Maas

Ad Maas is Curator of Modern Natural Sciences of Rijksmuseum Boerhaave and professor in Museological Aspects of the Natural Sciences at the Centre for the Arts in Society of Leiden University. He specializes in the history of physics, history of scientific collecting, 19th century Dutch science and society, and museologcial aspects of modern scientific heritage.

Nobel Artefacts: Material Heritage of Nobel Prize Laureates in the Netherlands

From the moment it opened its doors in 1931, Rijksmuseum Boerhaave hosted an impressive collection of artefacts from Dutch Nobel Prize laureates. In our presentation we trace how this collection has been deployed to evoke certain images of Dutch scientific ‘heroes’. We show that the way these representations changed over time reflects broader cultural tendencies. Finally, we raise the question of how to present Nobel Prize artefacts in this day and age.

Daniela Angetter

Daniela Angetter studied History and German Philology from 1989 to 1995 with a focus on Medical and Military History at the University of Vienna; she received her PhD in 1995. She was employed at the Institute for the History of Medicine at the University of Vienna from 1996 to 2001. In 2001 she moved to the Austrian Academy of Sciences, specializing in the history of medicine, military history, history of science, and biography. In her spare time, she works as a volunteer emergency paramedic with the Red Cross.

Konrad Lorenz - a Noble Hero in an Attempt to deny his National Socialist Past

In 1973, the Austrian Konrad Lorenz, together with Nikolaas Tinbergen and Karl von Frisch, received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries on the organization and triggering of individual and social behavior patterns. In view of the 50th anniversary there would be all reason to celebrate this in Austria. After all Konrad Lorenz, legendary as a scientist who communicated with jackdaws and geese, recognized the phenomenon of imprinting and also was a renowned environmentalist who organized successful referendums against nuclear power plants.

In contrast to this is his National Socialist past, which popped up in Austria’s media but also internationally in view of the Nobel Prize award. Lorenz tried to deny this as much as he could, with moderate success. Especially his Dutch colleague Nikolaas Tinbergen was brought in a difficult position. He had to decide between insisting that Lorenz distanced himself from his National Socialist views on the one hand, and taking a close stance towards his friend during the Nobel Prize award ceremony on the other hand.

Hilbrand Wouters

Hilbrand Wouters studied History and Philosophy of Science at Utrecht University. He is currently a researcher in residence in Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, investigating personifications of scientists in science museums, seeking new ways to represent heritage in science museums. The project is funded by a Museum Grant of the Dutch Research Council (NWO).

Jeffrey I. Seeman

Jeffrey I. Seeman (Department of Chemistry, University of Richmond, Virginia, USA) has 250 publications in fields as diverse as natural products chemistry, chemical physics, responsible conduct of research, and the history and sociology of chemistry. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. He created and manages the Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award program for the Division of the History of Chemistry of the ACS. He has served as Chair of the ACS Division of History of Chemistry, on the Board of Directors of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, and on the advisory boards of the Petroleum Research Fund, The Journal of Organic Chemistry, and Accountability in Research.

Life Science Bias of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Often the October feeling of the chemistry community is of dismay when the Nobel Prize is announced. "Once again the award for a life scientist rather than for a chemist" is the complaint of many. We found that the distress is well founded. Several of the Nobel Prize winners in chemistry have had a strong influence in the life sciences rather than in chemistry and this has happened especially in the most recent decades. These conclusions are drawn based on the citation analysis of the papers leading Nobelists in chemistry to Stockholm.

Guillermo Restrepo

Guillermo Restrepo received his BSc (1998) and MSc (2003) degrees in chemistry at the Universidad Industrial de Santander, Colombia. He obtained his PhD at the Universität Bayreuth (2008) and held two postdoctoral positions (Universität Bayreuth, Texas A&M University). For a decade, he was a chemistry Professor at the Universidad de Pamplona (Colombia). He was an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellow at the Universität Leipzig (2014–2017). Since 2017, he has been at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences where he conducts research on the history of chemistry through the mathematical and computational analysis of millions of substances and reactions. He is the 2020 recipient of the Gmelin–Beilstein Denkmünze of the German Chemical Society.

Rob van den Berg

Rob van den Berg is a science historian at Leiden University. He recently published a biography of the Dutch chemist and Nobel Prize winner Van ‘t Hoff and now works on a book about the discovery of vitamins.

The first vitamin Nobel: A hotly contested award

Scientific discoveries seldom result from a flash of insight and generally have a long history with many con tributors. This is illustrated by the discovery of vitamins, for which Christiaan Eijkman and Frederick Gowland Hopkins received a Nobel Prize in 1929. In this case Eijkman’s colleague Gerrit Grijns was the first to realize that a ‘partial hunger’ (or vitamin deficiency) was underlying diseases like beriberi. However, the Nobel committee ignored his contribution, while Eijkman even fiercely contested it for almost thirty years and completely ignored it in his Nobel Prize speech. Hopkins did realize the importance of what he called ‘accessory food factors’, but only five years after Grijns had published his idea. Moreover, Hopkins’ failure to isolate these mystery compounds prevented him from publishing his work only after American colleagues had published very similar results. In this case the Nobel committee gave Hopkins the benefit of the doubt, basing their decision on circumstantial evidence from prior unpublished talks and newspaper reports.

Frank Miedema

Frank Miedema is one of the initiators in 2013 of Science in Transition (www.scienceintransition.nl/english) who believe that the academic incentive and reward system is in need of fundamental reform. Next to Science for Science (articles in ‘high-impact’ journals), the impact on society must be valued more and societal stakeholders should be involved more integrally in the production of knowledge.

He is Vice Rector for Research at Utrecht University and chair of the Utrecht University Open Science Program. He studied biochemistry at the University of Groningen, specialising in Immunology, with a minor in the Philosophy of Science. He obtained a PhD from the University of Amsterdam at the Central Laboratory of the Blood Transfusion Service (CLB), now Sanquin. From 1983, he was a project leader there in the immunovirology of HIV/AIDS, as part of the Amsterdam Cohort Studies. In 1996, he was appointed full professor at the AMC/University of Amsterdam and became Director of Sanquin Research in 1998. In 2004, he became head of the Immunology Department at the University Medical Center Utrecht. From January 2009 to March 2019 he was dean and vice chairman of the Executive Board of the University Medical Center Utrecht.    

Heroes in Science: Of images and statues

There is an intense international discussion going on the evaluation of research and researchers, which is heavily based on our images of the scientific practice. Until very recently this still was dominated by superseded images of the scientific practice, in particular in the natural sciences and biomedical disciplines, but also recognizable in other academic disciplines. Current research is mostly multidisciplinary, pursued by teams and often in collaboration with partners from outside academia, but it used to be and still is much more based on the idea of geniuses and individual excellence. In analogy these modern and more realistic images of science also inform a debate concerning evaluation of scientists, and the awarding of Nobel Prizes and other old signs of individual excellency.

Christiaan Engberts

Christiaan Engberts is a historian of scholarship, who has worked extensively on conceptions of good scholarship and the way in which these conceptions shape practices of mutual evaluation. He is currently writing a transnational history of Leuven’s university in the light of the upcoming celebration of the 600-year anniversary of the foundation of that city’s first university in 1425.

Honors Without Impact: Emil von Behring’s Inconsequential Nobel Prize

Today’s Nobel Prize laureates are often seen as the superstars of their discipline. The prize is only awarded to researchers whose peers recognize them as being among the most innovative and knowledgeable in their field. What is more, the Nobel Prize also ensures its recipients’ fame outside their area of specialization, and even far beyond the world of science. The example of Emil Behring, the first recipient of the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1901, however, shows that this widespread recognition could not always be taken for granted. In my talk, I will investigate how the splendour of his Nobel Prize quickly paled in the light of a combination of tensions with his peers and great admiration among the public at large.

Louise Gunning

Louise Gunning was Professor in Social Medicine, Dean of the Medical School and President of the University of Amsterdam. In the last 7 years she has chaired the Royal Holland Society for Sciences and Humanities.

Unexpected Recognition

Academia is ambivalent about competition. Traditionally, competing between research groups for money or positions has been embraced for the expected beneficial effect on the quality of the research. Only one can be the best. Recently, there has been more debate on the pressure this competing for the top puts on young academics.

What does this competition mean for prizes and awards? Does this add to that pressure ? Do we make individual heroes where in reality the team effort of many has contributed to the celebrated success? The Royal Holland Society for Sciences and Humanities gives prizes to over 125 researchers every year at all career levels. So for us these are existential questions.

Nils Hansson

Nils Hansson, Associate Professor, is interested in the impact of prizes in the sciences. He leads the “Prize studies” team at Düsseldorf University that investigates prize cultures in different scientific fields and countries and published several books and volumes on Nobel Prize history..  

The Gender Award Gap

Why do women receive fewer and less prestigious awards in science and medicine than men? Drawing on data from an ongoing three year research project at the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf, Germany, I will present strategies to bridge the Gender Award Gap. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF).

Gijs van der Ham

Gijs van der Ham is a historian who from 2001 until his recent retirement was senior curator at the Department of History of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. In 2007, he was the curator of the exhibition Held/Hero in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam; later, he made exhibitions on the Dutch War of Independence (80 Years War 1568-1648; 2018) and the 18th century rhinoceros Clara (2022).

You are my Hero. Heroism and Worship in the Netherlands

What is a hero? And when and how does one become a hero?

With the Netherlands as example, I will show in my lecture that the other is always essential.

However brave or special you may be, if no one sees you, acknowledges what you have done, and honours and worships you for it, you never will become a hero. The deed alone is therefore not enough: without worship, no hero. It even depends of the perspective of the other what kind of hero one can become, and if this heroism will last. Often, objects are essential, as I will show with some examples, mainly taken from the Heroes in Holland exhibition curated by me in 2007.

Olov Amelin

Olov Amelin holds since 2019 the position as Director of the Jamtli Foundation in Östersund, Sweden. Between 2010 and 2019 he was director of the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm. Previously he was head of exhibitions in the same museum, and before that director of Museum Gustavianum, the University Museum of Uppsala University and also responsible for organizing the museum (1996 - 1999). In 1989 - 1996 he worked at the Observatory Museum in Stockholm and was its director from the opening in 1991 until 1996. During this period he also held the position as assistant director at the Center for History of Science at the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences. Between 1986 and 1989 he was Curator at the National Museum of Technology, Stockholm. He has a PhD in History of Science and Ideas from Uppsala University (1999).

Amelin has written articles and books in the field of history of science and museology. He was curator of a large number of exhibitions, both in Sweden and internationally.

Benchmarking Excellence: Turning a World Famous Prize into an Inspiring Museum. An Impossible Task?

In my presentation I will focus on the establishment of the Nobel Prize Museum and the reasoning behind our decisions. I will also refer to later experience and how we developed new concepts for a Nobel Prize Center that originally was planned for 2022, but has been postponed. A number of examples will be shown from the exhibitions we made, both as a consequence of the ideas that guided us back in 2001 and the new ideas implemented for the new Nobel Prize Center.

Sarah de Rijcke 

Sarah de Rijcke is Professor in Science, Technology, and Innovation Studies & Scientific Director at the Centre for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS) in Leiden. She is co-chair of the Research on Research Institute (RoRI), founded in 2019 by the Wellcome Trust, University of Sheffield, Leiden University, and Digital Science.

She specialises in social studies of research evaluation, and has published widely on the topic of the relations between quality control mechanisms and knowledge production in different fields. She has also developed a strong international public academic presence with outreach activities in science policy, speaking frequently on the topic of research evaluation and metrics uses.

Klaas Landsman (foto: NWO)

Klaas Landsman is a Professor of Mathematical Physics at Radboud Universitei in Nijmegen. He wrote six books, more than a hundred scientific publications, and almost 50 papers for broader audiences. In 2022 he was awarded the Spinoza Prize, the highest scientific distinction in the Netherlands. He works on the mathematical and philosophical foundations of the most fundamental areas of physics, such as quantum mechanics and black holes.

Ineke Sluiter

Ineke Sluiter is Professor of Greek Language and Literature at Leiden University, and former president of the KNAW. In 2010 she was awarded a Spinoza prize. With a team funded by a Gravitation grant she studies innovation processes in Antiquity, and in particular the human factor in accommodating innovation  (Anchoring innovation).

Annelies Noordhof-Hoorn is a historian in modern and contemporary history, and works as a program curator at Studium Generale Groningen. She received her PhD in 2016 at the University of Groningen. Her research focuses on the history of science and universities. 

Every Hero needs a Sidekick: Frits Zernike and Hendrik Brinkman

Every great hero needs a sidekick, and so does every great scientist. In 1953, Frits Zernike was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his invention of the phase-contrast microscope. Less well known but crucial to Zernike’s success was the help of his nominator and colleague, Hendrik Brinkman, professor-director of the Physics Laboratory in Groningen and founder of the KVI-Centre for Advanced Radiation Technology. Brinkman’s dedication to Zernike is as remarkable as it is underappreciated. Not only did Brinkman nominate Zernike for the Nobel Prize, he was also deeply involved in Zernike’s personal life. When Zernike was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, Brinkman became his executor, and after his death Brinkman collected a plethora of documents, objects, and audio-visual material of and about the Nobel laureate. Unable to complete a biography of Zernike himself, Brinkman donated this archive to the University Museum of Groningen. What specifically did Brinkman hope to achieve by building a Zernike archive? What, in fact, did he accomplish? And might this archive be of value for an as yet to be written biography of the first Nobel Prize winner of the University of Groningen? After all, it’s not only heroes and scientists who need sidekicks, but sometimes biographers, too.

Eddie Brummelman is a developmental psychologist who studies children’s developing self-views. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Amsterdam and board member of The Young Academy (De Jonge Akademie) of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW). He is PI of KiDLAB (https://kidlab.nl/), which studies the nature, origins, and consequences of children’s self-views. KiDLAB uses developmental science to address social problems, such as inequality in education. 

The genius trap: When and why awards can undermine scientific progress

Why do we dole out awards to our fellow scientists? And what are the consequences of these awards for winners, losers, and the scientific enterprise as a whole? I will explore these questions through the lens of developmental psychology. Children are little scientists and, like scientists, frequently find themselves in settings where certain individuals receive recognition, such as praise, applause, and gold stars, while others do not. My talk will suggest that recognition that emphasizes individual brilliance can undermine learning and diversity. I will close by describing potential solutions to this genius trap, so that we can bestow awards in ways that boost scientific progress.