Elias exchanging his position at the laboratory in Haarlem for a position at a university was
the first indication of a pattern that was to emerge over the course of the following years: all
of Elias’ successors as conservator lamented the absence of students in Haarlem or left once
they were offered a position at a university. And the list of successors was not short, because
most of the subsequent conservators did not remain in Haarlem for very long.
Elias was succeeded by de Haas, who had already been considered for the position in 1909,
and in the meantime had received his doctorate. Although he left just a year later to join Elias
as a professor of physics in Delft, he managed to recreate and describe more accurately than
anyone else previously a physical phenomenon that has since been called the Einstein-de Haas
effect. De Haas and the increasingly famous Einstein had first discovered this phenomenon
while working together in Berlin. These credentials also go to show that de Haas’
appointment had little, perhaps even nothing, to do with the fact that he had also become
Lorentz’ son-in-law in 1910.
After de Haas left, Lorentz employed Johannes Martinus Burgers, a recent graduate of
Ehrenfest’s with strong Marxist sympathies, on January 8lh 1918.165 Lorentz set him to work
on a set of experiments related to his research on hysteresis. Burgers was only to complete
these experiments “up to a certain level” though, as he was simultaneously granted time to
edit his PhD-thesis and, like his predecessors in Haarlem, left for Delft after only ten months
for a professorship of engineering.166
Lorentz then chose Balthasar van der Pol as the new conservator. At the time van der Pol was
working in Cambridge at the Cavendish Laboratory as an assistant to J.J. Thomson. Lorentz
allowed him to continue with his research into the propagation of electromagnetic waves
which he had already begun in Cambridge, and van der Pol ordered some of the instruments
he would require in Haarlem in England, subsequently having them delivered to the
Netherlands. Interestingly, in his report to the trustees on van der Pol, Lorentz emphasised
that his previous research had been conducted not with an eye to improving wireless
telegraphy, but “the study of physical phenomena”.167 Until he left in late 1922 - for a
position at the newly created industrial laboratory of the Philips Gloeilampenfabriek - van der
Pol experimented a lot with recently developed triodes, focusing especially on cases of
hysteresis. Meanwhile, Lorentz himself had succeeded in measuring a “curious double
refraction in crystals of the regular system” which had been theoretically predicted, but never
observed yet.168
Van der Pol was succeeded by Coster, who stayed for a little more than a year before leaving
in 1924 for a professorship in Groningen. While in Haarlem, he experimented with X-rays. He
was succeeded by Adriaan Fokker in July 1926. Fokker had previously worked with
1 On Burgers see: A.J.Q. Alkemade, “Burgers, Johannes Martinus,” February 10, 2012,
http://www.historici.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/BWN/lemmata/bwn5/burgers. This is a digitized version o f the
entry on Burgers in the Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland 5 (The Hague 2002).
166 “tot op zekere hoogte”: “Jaarverslag 1918-1919”, 07.04.1919, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 191.
167 “de bestudering der physische verschijnselen.”: Ibid.
16 “eigenaardige dubbele breking bij kristallen van het regulaire stelsel”: Ibid.
169 “Directienotulen”, 09.07.1926, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 15.
Rutherford in Manchester and with Einstein in Zurich. Lorentz agreed with the trustees that
Fokker could succeed Lorentz as curator. Together they turned towards questions pertaining
to quantum mechanics, specifically the existence of light quanta, but their efforts were cut
short when Lorentz passed away on February 4th 1928.
4. “The Isolation of Haarlem”
As has already been pointed out, all of the conservators — all of them obviously budding
young physicists with great potential and future members of the elite of Dutch science -
evidently considered universities a more challenging work environment with better career
prospects than Teylers Laboratory. The question of why naturally arises.
Two points were certainly irrelevant, and a third was of little importance. Firstly, their leaving
cannot have had anything to do with Lorentz’ scientific credentials or his role as their
superior. No incidence of any of the conservators speaking ill of Lorentz is known of.
Secondly, the trustees were as supportive as they could be, and certainly didn’t interfere with
work at the laboratory. Their demands — that a number of lectures should be held annually -
were minimal, and certainly not comparable with the burden of teaching at a university.
Finally, the salary the Foundation paid was competitive as well, albeit considerably lower
than a university professor’s.17
Two other points however were of crucial importance: the changing nature of science, and,
eventually, the Foundation’s finances.
As for the first of these points, research was increasingly being conducted in large scale
projects, requiring teams of scientists. Because of the larger scale of these projects, funding
could increasingly only be provided by the government, industry, or perhaps major
philanthropic organisations such as the Rockefeller and Carnegie Foundations. Eventually, a
two-person, privately funded laboratory in a town such as Haarlem without a university, could
no longer compete. Perhaps the best example of the changing dimensions and character of
scientific research is the immense expansion of the facilities at Lorentz’ own university,
Leiden. As was already mentioned above, Kamerlingh Onnes had immediately set about
refurbishing the laboratory he was provided with upon his appointment in 1882; but during
the years Lorentz spent in Haarlem, the physics department’s premises were significantly
extended upon Kamerlingh Onnes’ initiative, with a major new wing being added to the
original building between 1920 and 1926.171 Lorentz’ laboratory in Haarlem paled in
comparison. And even if the Teyler Foundation would have had the resources to expand its
own premises, it would have faced another obstacle: Pieter Teyler’s old town house was
170 The salary for a full professorship was about 16000,- p.a., the conservator earned about f3000,- p.a.
171 On this see: Delft, Freezing Physics: Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and the Quest fo r Cold, 10:530ff.