Residence Netherlands Alma mater Leiden University Spouse none Fields Physicist | Name Hendrika van Doctoral advisor Hendrik Lorentz Role Physicist | |
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Born July 3, 1887
The Hague ( 1887-07-03 ) Institutions Delft University of Technology Thesis Vraagstukken uit de electronentheorie van het magnetisme (1919) Known for Bohr-van Leeuwen theorem Died February 26, 1974, Delft, Netherlands Institution Delft University of Technology | ||
Hendrika Johanna van Leeuwen (July 3, 1887 – February 26, 1974) was a Dutch physicist, known for her early contributions to the theory of magnetism. She studied at Leiden University under the guidance of Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, obtaining her doctorate in 1919. Her thesis explained why magnetism is an essentially quantum mechanical effect, a result now referred to as the Bohr–van Leeuwen theorem. (Niels Bohr had arrived at the same conclusion a few years earlier.) She continued to investigate magnetic materials at the "Technische Hogeschool Delft" (now called the Delft University of Technology), first as "assistant" until 1947, when she was promoted to "lector in de theoretische en toegepaste natuurkunde" (reader in theoretical and applied physics).
Hendrika van Leeuwen was the sister-in-law of Gunnar Nordström, known as the "Einstein of Finland", who studied in Leiden with Paul Ehrenfest, the successor of Lorentz. She was present at the celebration of the golden anniversary of the doctorate of Lorentz, on 11 December 1925, and on that occasion reported on the role of Lorentz as scientist and teacher.