Author: Guido Bacciagaluppi
The plaque unveiled on 7 April 2021 | photo: Marieke Wijntjes
The EPS has declared the Sonnenborgh Museum and Observatory in
Utrecht an EPS Historic Site. The only places in the Netherlands that
had previously received this honour are the Kamerlingh Onnes Laboratory
in Leiden and the NatLab in Eindhoven.
The designation EPS
Historic Site is awarded to places that have made an extraordinary
contribution to physics. Meteorologist Christophorus Buys Ballot founded
the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in 1854 at
Sonnenborgh. This is where the first weather reports for the Netherlands
were issued, where Buys Ballot formulated his famous law, and where a
start was made on international meteorological cooperation. The
adjoining institute of astronomy at Sonnenborgh also grew into a
scientific place of great importance, particularly due to the solar
research of Marcel Minnaert and Kees de Jager in the 20th century. In
1961 de Jager founded the Laboratory for Space Research at Sonnenborgh,
which later became the Netherlands Institute for Space Research (SRON).
FLTR: Gerard van der Steenhoven, Guido Bacciagaluppi, Valerio Cugia di Sant'Orsola, Leen Dorsman, Maarten Reichwein, and Petra Rudolf
photo: Marieke Wijntjes
On
Wednesday 7 April 2021, as one of her last duties as President of the
EPS, Petra Rudolf unveiled a plaque on the exterior facade of
Sonnenborgh “to keep alive the memory of Sonnenborgh's extraordinary
contribution to physics”. At the unveiling were present the director of
the KNMI Gerard van der Steenhoven, the director of Sonnenborgh Maarten
Reichwein, and the chair of the History and Foundations section of the
Netherlands' Physical Society (NNV) Guido Bacciagaluppi. The NNV is
celebrating 100 years of existence in 2021 and nominated Sonnenborgh as
EPS Historic Site. Maarten Reichwein: “Sonnenborgh is very honored to be
one of the three Historic Sites in the Netherlands. With this award
there is even more appreciation for Sonnenborgh and the researchers who
have contributed to science at Sonnenborgh”. Originally part of the
fortifications of the city, today Sonnenborgh is a
well-preserved historic city observatory as well as a popular museum. On
29 April Kees de Jager also celebrated his 100th birthday, which was
marked by a separate ceremony at Sonnenborgh.
More about the EPS Historic Sites programme
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