FROM YOUTH TO PROFESSOR 



Kluyver terminated his work at the Department of Agriculture, 

 Industry, and Commerce, and moved from his residence in Buitenzorg, 

 Tjikeumeuh 32, where the couple had spent three happy years. Mrs. 

 Kluyver traveled with their year-and-a-half old daughter to Holland, 

 there to await the birth of her second child. 



For the study of the copra-fibre industry Kluyver, accompanied by 

 Raden Mas Iso Reksohadiprodjo, Agric. E., trained in Wageningen, 

 and an instructor in agriculture in Java, embarked early in December, 

 1 919, on the S.S. 'Nawab'. They first went to Ceylon, thence to the 

 Malabar Coast, via Madras to Calicut, and later to Cochin (Travan- 

 core). Via Medan they returned to Java for consultation with the 

 appropriate authorities and a discussion of the prospects for a copra 

 industry. In May, 1920, Kluyver went to Holland in order to deliver 

 a preliminary oral report at the Colonial Institute. The printed report 

 of this enterprise appeared in 1923 as Communication No. XX of the 

 Colonial Institute under the title, 'Copra-fibre and Copra-yarn In- 

 dustry', a book of 300 pages, illustrated with beautiful photographs 

 taken by Kluyver himself, and supplemented with numerous tables, 

 maps, and appendices. It must be considered as the standard work on 

 this difficult subject. 



Not till November, 1920, did Kluyver return to Java with his wife and 

 children - in Holland a son had been added. He installed himself in 

 Bandung, where the family enjoyed the friendship of Dr. J. Clay, pro- 

 fessor at the local Technological University, and his wife. His first task 

 was to get the scientific laboratory of Tnsulinde' under way. But the 

 high-flown expectations were soon dashed, for in 1 920-1 921 a serious 

 economic crisis also developed in the Netherlands' East Indies, and 

 Tnsulinde' did not escape the consequences. Kluyver now realized 

 that his position would soon come to an end ; in June he and many 

 other employees were told that they would be laid off in October, 

 1921. 



At this point Kluyver faced two alternatives : either to re-establish 

 contacts with the Department of Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce 

 in Buitenzorg, or to hope for a professorship at the Bandung Tech- 

 nological University where a Division of Chemical Technology was 

 being created; Kluyver had already been interviewed for this position. 

 At this point something utterly unexpected happened: he received a 

 cablegram from the Department of Chemical Technology of the Tech- 



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