Willem de Sitter Einstein's Friend and Opponent
This is a thorough, very readable and excellently illustrated biography of Willem de Sitter (1872-1934), one of the most influential astronomers of his time, and also a co-author and correspondent of Einstein. Authored by a physicist and skilled writ
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Willem de Sitter Einstein’s Friend and Opponent
JAN GUICHELAAR
Springer Biographies
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13617
Jan Guichelaar
Willem de Sitter Einstein’s Friend and Opponent
123
Jan Guichelaar Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This book draws, in part, on the author’s earlier work in Dutch: “De Sitter, Een alternatief voor Einsteins heelalmodel”, Veen Magazines, Amsterdam, 2009. [De Sitter, An alternative for Einstein’s model of the universe]. ISSN 2365-0613 ISSN 2365-0621 (electronic) Springer Biographies ISBN 978-3-319-98336-3 ISBN 978-3-319-98337-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98337-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018951902 © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
This book is dedicated to my children Jan and Clasina
Preface
It is a strange chance that, of his most conspicuous contributions, one should relate to the Jovian system—first fruits of the invention of the telescope—and the other to the remotest systems that the telescope has yet revealed. Arthur S. Eddington1
At the wall in the drawing room of my grandfather’s house, next to the primary school where he was headmaster, a famous photograph of the Andromeda Nebula hung in the 1950s. As the son of a barber in a small Frisian village, the only way for the bright young boy to study was to attend a teacher training college, in The Netherlands sometimes called the university for the poor. His interests and capacities went further than the primary school teachers’ level. In his youth, the universe consisted only of the visible galaxy, in the years that the Milky Way was still visible nearly everywhere in the Netherlands. H
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