BIOGRAPHICAL MEMORANDA 



fraternity, did not care much for that city. To be sure, he had decided 

 to become a chemical engineer; but his heart was set on Leiden from 

 where he commuted to Delft. Here he participated but little in the 

 activities of the student community; and, after the day's work was 

 done, he always returned to Leiden where, apart from rooming with 

 his student friends, he also took part in community affairs. Having 

 grown up in that city he knew many local families, and was a member 

 of the lawn-tennis club 'Ready' and of other social clubs. 



In 1909 he passed, 'with distinction', the examinations that admitted 

 him to candidacy for the degree of Chem. E. During his final year he 

 studied mostly under Dr. J. Boeseken, Professor of Organic Chem- 

 istry, and in June, 19 10, he received the Chem. E. degree, again 'with 

 distinction'. 



Meanwhile he had taken several courses under Dr. G. van Iterson Jr., 

 Professor of Microscopical Anatomy, who had offered him, even before 

 the final examinations, a position as assistant in his institute.* 



It was during this period that a number of chemistry students, 

 Kluyver among them, founded the 'Natural Sciences Dispute' which 

 later became the nucleus of the Delft Section of the Netherlands' 

 Chemical Society. At its monthly meetings one of the members dis- 

 cussed a subject in the natural sciences. Kluyver chose as his topic the 

 chemical structure of chlorophyll. This lecture was published in 191 1 

 in the 'Pharmaceutisch Weekblad' under the title, 'The chemistry of 

 chlorophyll in the light of recent investigations'. It was Kluyver's first 

 publication, and he was not a little proud of it. But at the same time 

 he realized even then the relativity of all things. The reprint he pre- 

 sented to me had been inscribed in his fine, sharp script with the 

 following quotation from Otto Ernst's 'Semper der Jungling', a widely 

 read novel at that time: 'Zwar blieb seine Wissenschaft einigermassen 

 an der Oberflache; er sprach allerlei vom Chlorophyll, aber was es 

 fur eine Bedeutung hatte wusste er eigentlich selbst nicht'. 



During his student years Kluyver showed himself to be possessed of 

 great mental ability, strong interests, and an extreme sense of duty. 

 But it must not be concluded that he did nothing but study; in Leiden 

 he cultivated that social intercourse with friends of both sexes which 

 he needed so much. Here, especially during vacations, he indulged in 



* At the Technological University this position carried various major responsibil- 

 ities, and was generally occupied only by persons with an advanced degree. 



