Hendrik C. van de Hulst

Hendrik Christoffel "Henk" van de Hulst (19 November 1918 – 31 July 2000) was a Dutch astronomer and mathematician.

Hendrik C. van de Hulst
Hendrik C. van de Hulst in 1977
Born	19 November 1918 Utrecht, the Netherlands
Died	31 July 2000 (aged 81) Leiden, the Netherlands
Nationality	Dutch
Known for	21 cm hyperfine line Anomalous diffraction theory
Awards	Henry Draper Medal (1955) Eddington Medal (1955) Rumford Medal (1964) Bruce Medal (1978) Karl Schwarzschild Medal (1995)
Scientific career
Fields	Astronomy
Institutions	University of Leiden
Thesis	Optics of spherical particles (1946)
Doctoral advisor	Marcel Minnaert[1]
Doctoral students	Elly Dekker[2]

In 1944, while a student in Utrecht,[3] he predicted the existence of the 21 cm hyperfine line of neutral interstellar hydrogen. After this line was discovered, he participated, with Jan Oort and C.A. Muller, in the effort to use radio astronomy to map out the neutral hydrogen in our galaxy, which first revealed its spiral structure. Motivated by the scattering in cosmic dust, he studied light scattering by spherical particles and wrote his doctoral thesis on the topic,[1] subsequently formulating the anomalous diffraction theory.[4]

He spent most of his career at the University of Leiden, retiring in 1984. He published widely in astronomy, and dealt with the solar corona, and interstellar clouds. After 1960 he was a leader in international space research projects.[5]

In 1956 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.[6]

Books

• van de Hulst, H.C., Light Scattering by Small Particles, New York, (Wiley, 1957; Dover, 1981), ISBN 0-486-64228-3.[7]
• van de Hulst, H.C., Multiple Light Scattering, New York, Academic Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0-12-710701-1.[7]

Honors

Awards

• Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1955)[8]
• Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1955)
• Rumford Medal of the Royal Society (1964)
• Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1978)[9]
• Karl Schwarzschild Medal of the Astronomische Gesellschaft (1995)

Named after him

• Asteroid 2413 van de Hulst
• van de Hulst approximation

References

1. Habing, H. J. (February 2001). "Obituaries: Hendrik Christoffel van de Hulst, 1918-2000". Astronomy & Geophysics. 42 (1): 1.33–1.37. Bibcode:2001A&G....42a..33H. doi:10.1046/j.1468-4004.2001.0420011.33.x.
2. van der Kruit, Pieter C. (2019). "Appendix A.4: Oort and His Students: a List of Ph.D. Theses". Jan Hendrik Oort. Astrophysics and Space Science Library. 459. Springer International Publishing. pp. 633–635. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-17801-7. ISBN 978-3-030-17800-0.
3. Astronomy Tree profile Hendrik Christoffel van de Hulst
4. van de Hulst, H. C. (1957). Light scattering by small particles. New York: John Wiley and Sons. ISBN 9780486139753.
5. "Hulst, Hendrik Christoffel van de." in Encyclopædia Britannica (2010)
6. "Hendrik Christoffel van de Hulst (1918–2000)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
7. "Hendrik C. van de Hulst Bibliography". Sonoma State University: Department of Physics and Astronomy. Sonoma State University. Retrieved 16 January 2020.
8. "Henry Draper Medal". National Academy of Sciences. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
9. "Past Winners of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 24 February 2011.

Bibliography

• Tenn, Joe. "Hendrik Christoffel van de Hulst". Sonoma State University. Retrieved 5 January 2007.