BIOGRAPHICAL MEMORANDA 



war and occupation of his country had a terrific impact on Kluyver ; 

 in a situation where logic and good intentions were superseded by 

 brute force and malice he could not feel at ease. 



The real and potential disasters of the war took full possession of his 

 keen mind and sensitive heart; they displaced many things that had 

 previously occupied the forefront of his attention. Kluyver's attitude 

 towards science and human affairs that was so characteristic of his 

 later years must have been conditioned during this time by the need 

 for a reproportioning and reappraisal of values, opinions, and persons. 

 The war intensified his preoccupation with both the larger issues and 

 the individual. He had even fewer illusions, was more humble and 

 warm-hearted, but at the same time more powerfully outspoken after 

 the experience. 



Especially during the post-war years Kluyver displayed the qualities 

 of a modern universal scientist who remained in close touch with the 

 outside world. This exacted demands that are colossal in comparison 

 with those required of the medieval scholar who had ample opportun- 

 ity to pursue his own researches and at the same time to give his pupils 

 extensive and profound instruction by merely letting them look over 

 his shoulder. The social position and responsibility of the scientist, the 

 tendency towards exponential development of research, and the dra- 

 matic expansion of man's technological resources, these were matters 

 to which Kluyver devoted much of his time and energy, and with 

 which he also confronted his collaborators. To the end he kept on 

 learning, and he continued to teach his beloved specialty, microbiol- 

 ogy, in a manner that emphasized more and more its place in the 

 scheme of science and the implications of science for mankind. Free 

 from the narrowness and irresponsibility with which the scientific pro- 

 fession is so often stigmatized nowadays, he restored to it dignity and 

 humanity, and set an example for contemporary and future scientists. 



We cannot say that Kluyver was compelled by an absorbing passion 

 for truth, any more than that he was primarily motivated by the urge 

 to promote the welfare of mankind. He worked because he liked it, 

 and he was ever grateful for the opportunity given him. In later years 

 he even felt apologetic about the position he occupied, because he 

 thereby prevented a younger man from enjoying and exploiting its 

 wealth of possibilities. He may have thought of his own activities as 



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