however, he enjoyed the same sort of reverence internationally he must have become
acquainted with in the Netherlands already. That he only began to discover the world in his
late 40s is even more surprising if one takes into account that his German, English and French
were all impeccable - judging, at least, by the flawless letters he wrote in these languages.
And then, as he approached 60, Lorentz accepted the offer of becoming the curator of physics
at Teylers Museum or, more specifically, the offer of becoming the head of the Teyler
Foundation’s physics laboratory. This period of his life and the processes leading up to his
taking up this position are usually only addressed perfunctorily1 4, so they are worth dwelling
on in some detail, before returning to the question of how Lorentz saw Teylers Museum, or
rather how he handled the historical instrument collection that fell under his purview for
almost two decades.
2. Much to Offer
Elisa van der Ven passed away on June 27 1909. Even before his funeral, the first
unsolicited application was sent off to the trustees, asking for details about the vacancy that
had obviously just opened.125 Although this applicant -®1a teacher at a local polytechnic -I
received a fairly curt reply, two others who wrote just days later were told that nothing had
been decided yet with regard to this position, but applications could be sent to the trustees.126
By the time these applications would have arrived (none have been preserved) towards the
end of July, the trustees had, however, already set their sights on Lorentz. The minutes of the
meeting of the board of trustees on July 28th 1909 read: “Regarding the vacancy for
conservator of the Physical Cabinet advice will be sought from prof. Lorentz in Leiden, at
which opportunity the professor will be asked if he is inclined to accept this position
himself.”127 A letter inviting Lorentz to Haarlem was sent off that very same day - although
no mention was yet made of the vacant post being offered to him.128 Lorentz promptly replied
he would be happy to come, and a meeting was scheduled for early August. It was to take
1 One notable exception is: Marijn van Hoorn, ‘The Physics Laboratory o f the Teyler Foundation (Haarlem)
Under Professor H.A. Lorentz, 1909-1928,” Bulletin SIS no. 59 (1998): 14—21. Van Hoorn focuses on the
research performed under Lorentz’ purview and the instruments used.
125 Oosting to trustees o fthe Teyler Foundation, 30.06.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 36.
1 Meerburg to trustees o f the Teyler Foundation, 03.07.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 36 & Stoel to trustees o f the
Teyler Foundation, 04.07.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 36. Copies o f the replies they received: Trustees o f the
Teyler Foundation to Meerburg, 10.07.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 57, fol. 72 & Trustees o f the Teyler Foundation
to Stoel”, 10.07.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 57, fol. 73. Further letters o f inquiry have been preserved in ATS, vol.
36, some o f the replies they received in ATS, voi 57.
127 “Over de vacature conservator Physisch Kabinet zal advies worden gevraagd aan prof. Lorentz te Leiden, bij
welke gelegenheid dien hoogleraar zal worden gevraagd o f hij genegen is zelf de betrekking te aanvaarden”:
“Directienotulen”, 28.07.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 13.
128 Trustees o f the Teyler Foundation to H.A. Lorentz, 28.07.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 57, fol. 82.
129 H.A. Lorentz to trustees o f the Teyler Foundation, c. 30.07.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 36.
place at the home of one of the trustees, Jan Adriaan Fontein, and the two men were to be
joined by another trustee of the Teyler Foundation, Anthonie Wilhelm Thdne.
The question of course arises why the trustees approached Lorentz, rather than anyone else.
There was certainly no shortage of talented and internationally recognised physicists in the
Netherlands at the time - the decades around 1900 have even summarily been described as the
“Second Golden Age” of Dutch science - and Lorentz was one of the most prominent
amongst them, respected not only as a brilliant physicist who had just won the Nobel Prize,
but also as a person.
In a way, Lorentz’ high reputation was probably one of the reasons the trustees decided to
approach him. They saw themselves as heirs to an institution with a long-standing tradition as
one of the nerve centres of Dutch science. What’s more, because van der Ven had been more
of a populariser of science than a researcher, and because he had been frail for much of his
last years, the trustees must have felt it was time to re-establish Teylers’ reputation in
scientific circles. In an account of his first meeting with Thone and Fontein, Lorentz wrote
that his task at Teylers would be “[t]o turn T.[eylers] into a place where work of considerable
importance is performed and from which a certain influence is exerted”. These are sure to
have been the trustees’ as much as his own words.
But circumstances suggest there was also a second aspect: Lorentz was deeply dissatisfied
with his position in Leiden. The reason was, firstly, that he had no laboratory of his own -
even though he had been appointed to the first chair of theoretical physics in the Netherlands,
he would have liked to be able to perform the occasional experiment - and, secondly, that he
was saddled with a high teaching burden which left hardly any time for his own research.132
Both issues had a lot to do with his equally brilliant fellow physics professor (for
experimental physics) in Leiden, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes. Kamerlingh Onnes was soon to
receive his own Nobel Prize for liquefying helium, which he had succeeded in doing less than
a year before van der Ven’s death, on July 10' 1908. But Kamerlingh Onnes was also a gifted
manager, the physical manifestation of which became the constant refurbishments and major
extensions of the university physics laboratories in Leiden he repeatedly succeeded to gain
funding for. It was not that Lorentz and Kamerlingh Onnes didn’t get on - on the contrary -
but somehow, despite the constant addition of work space, even a small laboratory exclusively
for Lorentz’ use never materialised. When he was offered a professorship without teaching
duties at the University of Munich in 1905, he only stayed in Leiden because promises had
been made to lighten his teaching burden. Although Johannes Petrus Kuenen was
subsequently appointed professor of physics in order to assist Lorentz with his teaching,
Lorentz still felt, in his own words, that “I may, it seems to me, regard matters in such a way
130 Trustees o f the Teyler Foundation to H.A. Lorentz, 02.08.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 57, fol. 84.
131 “T.[eylers] tot een plaats te maken, waar werk van eenige beteekenis gedaan wordt en van waar een zekere
invloed uitgaat”: H.A. Lorentz to J. Bosscha”, c. 17.08.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 183.
132 See: Delft, Freezing Physics: Heike Kamerlingh Onnes and the Quest fo r Cold, 10:352-357.