PREAMBLE 



ber of review articles and the text of some lectures have been included; 

 for particularly in these lectures he displayed that harmonious mastery 

 over form and content, that highly developed linguistic and vividly 

 stylistic ability that were so characteristically his own. The essence 

 of this style reveals itself not only when he wrote in his mother tongue, 

 but it is equally apparent from his publications in English, French, 

 and German. At least one paper in each of these four languages has 

 been incorporated here, while several papers, hitherto available only 

 in the Dutch language, have been inserted in English translations. In 

 this manner the collection may offer some novelties to interested peo- 

 ple in foreign countries. 



It stands to reason that ample space has been reserved for an essay 

 on Kluyver as a scientist, in which an attempt has been made to 

 assess the totality of his contributions. 



The biographical section was written by several authors, each one 

 covering a particular period of his life. For its composition contribu- 

 tions were received from a former secondary school classmate who has 

 written about this phase; from a colleague whom Kluyver befriended 

 when they both were first-year students at the University, and who 

 has dealt with the years prior to Kluyver's assumption of the pro- 

 fessorate; and from all those who were consecutively associated with 

 him as senior staff members during the years of his professorship, and 

 have covered this period. 



The biographical section closes with two orations spoken at the 

 cremation ceremonies at Westerveld, viz., the one delivered by the 

 Rector Magnificus of the Technological University in the name of 

 organizations and persons within the confines of the University, and 

 the testimonial of Kluyver's closest friend, especially rewritten for 

 publication in this book. 



The bibliography, finally, lists all of Kluyver's publications. In addi- 

 tion it contains a record of the Doctor's dissertations and papers 

 issued from his laboratory that do not bear his name. Apparently the 

 Director did not have a rigid rule for determining whether or not his 

 name should appear on a publication. Even so, the work done by 

 his pupils was often concerned with the elaboration and testing of 

 ideas that he supplied; and in spite of a consummate respect for the 

 individuality of his coworkers he was wont to instill into every 

 paper from his institute a characteristic and highly personal flavour. 



