Hendrik Casimir
Hendrik Brugt Gerhard Casimir (
July 15,
1909 –
May 4,
2000) was a
Dutch physicist.
He was born in
The Hague,
Netherlands and studied at the
University of Leiden under
Paul Ehrenfest, where he received his Ph.D. in
1931 and subsequently worked as an assistant to
Wolfgang Pauli at the
ETH Zürich.
He died in
Heeze.
His PhD thesis, dealt with the quantum mechanics of a rigid spinning body and the group theory of the rotations of molecules. During that time he also spent some time in Copenhagen with Niels Bohr. After receiving his Ph.D. he worked as an assistant to Wolfgang Pauli at Zürich. In 1938, he became a physics professor at Leiden University. At that time, he was actively studying both heat conduction and electrical conduction, and contributed to the attainment of millikelvin temperatures.
In 1942, during World War II, Casimir moved to the Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He remained an active scientist and in 1945 wrote a well-known paper on Lars Onsager's principle of microscopic reversibility. He became a co-director of Philips Research Laboratories laboratories in 1946 and a member of the board of directors of the company in 1956. He retired from Philips in 1972.
Although he spent much of his professional life in industry, Hendrik Casimir was one of the great Dutch theoretical physicists. Dr. Casimir made many contributions to science during his years in research from 1931 to 1950. These contributions include: pure mathematics, Lie groups (1931); hyperfine structure, calculation of nuclear quadrupole moments, (1935); low temperature physics, magnetism, thermodynamics of superconductors, paramagnetic relaxation (1935 - 1942); applications of Onsager's theory of irreversible phenomena (1942 - 1950); and long range van der Waals forces through predicting the quantum mechanical attraction between closely spaced conducting plates, the so-called Casimir effect (1946). He helped found the European Physical Society and became its president in 1972. In 1979 he was one of the key speakers at CERN's 25th anniversary celebrationsWhile at
Philips Research Labs, in
1948 Casimir predicted the
quantum mechanical attraction between conducting plates now known as the
Casimir effect, which has important consequences in
Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), among others.
*
Haphazard Reality : half a century of science by H.B.G. Casimir (Sloan Foundation Series; New York: Harper & Row, 1983). His autobiography.
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Biographical Memoirs (PDF)
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PhysicsWeb article on the Casimir Effect
*
The Casimir Force
