KLUYVER AS PROFESSOR; CHRONICLES OF THE LABORATORY 



Milatz was appointed as Ornstein's successor. Milatz resembled Orn- 

 stein in many respects, and contributed a generous dose of optimism 

 and enthusiasm which was much appreciated and helped to cheer up 

 Kluyver during his visits. Thus the work was continued, even though 

 the Rockefeller grant had ceased, until the critical situation during the 

 winter of 1944 caused it to stop almost entirely. 



'After the end of the war the experiments were soon resumed. But 

 the frequency of Kluyver's visits to Utrecht gradually diminished, espe- 

 cially during his last years. Milatz too found less and less time for the 

 group because he was involved in the establishment of nuclear-physical 

 studies. 



'In general, the close collaboration of a physicist and a biologist, en- 

 visaged as an ideal during the early period, receded into the back- 

 ground. 



'About the time of Kluyver's death, Milatz left the physical labora- 

 tory, so that the group was robbed of both its leaders. Till now they 

 have not been replaced, and probably will not be; the present senior 

 workers continue the work independently. One reason for this situation 

 is surely that it would be difficult to find another team of leaders that 

 could arouse the sort of scientific fervour that Kluyver and Ornstein 

 engendered.' 



Kluyver's capacity for work and intellectual ability were devoted not 

 only to science and technology. It was particularly characteristic of 

 him that requests to serve the community in functions of minor im- 

 portance were never refused. Thus, for many years, he served the city 

 of his domicile as a member of its sanitary commission, whose task it 

 was to advise the city council in matters of hygiene. Such work did not 

 always give him satisfaction; he was, for example, considerably dis- 

 turbed when, against the commission's advice which he fully sup- 

 ported, a cemetery was expanded in an area where, thirty years later, 

 the new buildings of the Technological University were erected. 

 Nevertheless, such experiences did not prevent him from taking upon 

 himself other duties, such as the function, first of trustee, later of presi- 

 dent of the board of trustees, of one of the local secondary schools. 



As his age advanced, his associates, and no doubt his children too, 

 often advised him to give up such time-consuming activities; but he 

 could not be moved to do so. He was probably convinced that in a 



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