32 



WENHOEK Medal. Beijerinck was always deeply impressed by the 

 genius of this great naturalist. 



The medal was conferred upon Beijerinck in the meeting of the 

 Academy of September 30th, 1905; Professor F. A. F. C. Went, the 

 later well-known botanist, gave an address that testified to his pro- 

 found admiration for Beijerinck's work. Beijerinck made a brief 

 reply. Both speeches have been reprinted in Appendix E. 



In 1906 Beijerinck was made an honorary member of the Royal 

 Botanical Society of Edinburgh. In 1917 Professor Orla-Jensen of 

 Copenhagen informed him that he had proposed him as a candidate 

 for the Nobel prize for chemistry. However, nothing came of this; in 

 that year the prize was not awarded. He also received invitations 

 from Berlin (through van 't Hoff) and from America to lecture : in- 

 vitations, which however, he did not accept. 



H.M. the Queen and H.R.H. Prince Hendrik of the Nether- 

 LANDS, and such highly-placed persons as the Prime Ministers Goeman 

 BoRGESius and Abraham Kuyper gave evidence of their interest by 

 paying visits to his laboratory, marks of honour such as have only 

 rarely been accorded to a Netherlands man of science. 



After the war was over, Beijerinck again began to think seriously 

 of resigning his professorship, but finally he decided to remain till his 

 70th year, i.e., till 1921. 



His 25 years' professorship on July 1 st, 1 920 passed almost entirely 

 unobserved. Beijerinck and his sisters escaped from Delft; but his 

 friend and ex-colleague Hoogewerff wrote a commemorative article 

 which was published in the weekly periodical "De Ingenieur" (Cf. 

 Appendix F). 



In contrast to this, a grand celebration took place about a year 

 later on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, i.e., on March lóth, 

 1921 . Months earlier, a committee had been formed of friends and ex- 

 pupils to organize this celebration. On the eve of the big day Beije- 

 rinck himself, however, seems to have been too much impressed by 

 the forth coming^ end of his academie career to enjoy the prospects 

 of the homage which was to be paid to him. A proposal made by his 

 staff to hoist the national flag was rather ungraciously dismissed 

 with the words : "One does not hoist flags on the day of one's funeral". 

 Notwithstanding this, there is no doubt that at the end of the 

 day, Beijerinck was extremely gratified by all the honour done to 

 him. 



As a matter of fact, the committee, and especially its president. Pro- 

 fessor VAN Iterson, had spared no pains to make this day un- 

 forgettable for Beijerinck. Large funds had been raised to which his 

 friends and more distant admirers had contributed ; the Netherlands 

 Government had also made a considerable contribution. Part of the 

 money thus raised had been used to finance the publication of Beije- 



