KLUYVER AS PROFESSOR; CHRONICLES OF THE LABORATORY 



The personality and reputation of the new professor were known 

 in the laboratory, and had frequently been discussed; the expectations 

 were not very high. Kluyver sensed a mood of scientific snobbery in 

 the assistants he had inherited from Beijerinck. They were still under 

 the influence of the spontaneous, fickle, and - in spite of his having 

 been born of a patrician family - rather unpolished Beijerinck; now 

 they were confronted with the restrained, sensitive, utterly courteous 

 successor. 



In the beginning these contrasts were keenly felt; they were to be- 

 come even more pronounced. 



Kluyver, perhaps subconsciously, assumed that it would be one of 

 his first tasks to transform the late-nineteenth century spirit of the 

 institute into a modern one. The incident difficulties were increased 

 because, shortly after his inauguration, a considerable number of 

 students applied for space in his laboratory. During the post-war years 

 Beijerinck had drawn very few disciples; but this had not worried 

 him in the least. Thus the assistants at the time had come to consider 

 the laboratory rather as a typical research institute, where, for all 

 practical purposes, they should not be bothered with the education of 

 students. As will appear from what follows, this laboratory of the Delft 

 University, whose fame gradually extended beyond the city walls, the 

 country's boundaries, and eventually the oceans, became more and 

 more a world centre of microbiology. No matter how long the duration 

 of the study period had been, or however cursory the visit, it became 

 a 'must' for any self-respecting microbiologist to have been there. 



But first of all the internal organization and working methods had 

 to be remodeled. The copying press made place for the typewriter; one 

 card index file after another was introduced. A house telephone was 

 installed ; a ban was declared against ringing, let alone shouting, for the 

 technicians. A solemn quietude came to prevail. All of this commanded 

 but little admiration among the staff, especially because the changes 

 did not stop at arrangements instituted by the predecessor. In this re- 

 spect it was irritating to see that Beijerinck's holy-of-holies, the library, 

 was desecrated by being in part converted into a classroom. Numer- 

 ous purely botanical journal files unexpectedly wound up at the sec- 

 ond-hand dealer's. The garden, with all its exotic plants assembled by 

 Beijerinck, received - or so it was believed - insufficient care and at- 

 tention. 



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