Catalogus der boekerij van J. M. C. baron van Utenhove van Heemstede, welke in 1838 aan de Universiteitsbibliotheek werd gelegateerd

Fik Vening Meinesz (1887-1966) was a Dutch civil engineer, employed by the Dutch Geodetic Committee. He devised an apparatus, containing a system of multiple pendulums, with which he could measure gravity in areas where such measurements would otherwise be impossible. By chance, he was made aware that a submerged submarine, when powered by electromotors, would provide an ideal, sufficiently stable, platform for such measurements at sea. The Dutch Navy, in pursuit of good publicity in the interwar period, gave Vening Meinesz its full support, enabling him to carry out a number of submarine expeditions. His findings stimulated postwar geophysical and geological research, both in the USA and elsewhere. Initially Vening Meinesz used his results to validate the International Gravity Formula, being the closest mathematical representation of the equipotential surface of the Earth at sea level - the geoid. Subsequently he interpreted these results from a tectonophysical perspective, using them to explain the occurrence of the elongated 'Minus' zone of negative gravity anomalies, discovered by him to surround the Indonesian archipelago and which he postulated as being caused by a system of convection currents in the Earth's mantle. Whilst he supported the idea of fixed continents, becoming increasingly opposed to Wegener's idea of drifting continents, his work on mantle convection was to become fundamental to, and incorporated in, the hypothesis of seafloor spreading. This led to the current paradigm of plate tectonics, which interprets the 'Minus' zone as the expression of the boundary between two convergent plates.

Herbaria in the Netherlands. Their lasting importance for the preservation of biodiversity Most Dutch academic herbarium collections are nowadays deposited in the National Herbarium of The Netherlands (NHN). In this article the various accessions in this collection are described and changes in their use for research over time are highlighted. Three reasons are given for the necessity to continue accepting new accessions at NHN. First of all, global biodiversity changes continuously and these changes need to be monitored and described. Secondly, herbaria are consulted more and more often to find answers to socially relevant questions. Thirdly, the development of ancient DNA techniques makes it possible to extract and analyse DNA present in old herbarium accessions. This created new perspectives for exciting and innovative research at universities all over the world.

The Dutch geologist Rein van Bemmelen was the greatest opponent of plate tectonics in the Netherlands. He lived and worked during an important period in the history of earth sciences. He had studied geology when Wegeners theory was introduced and enthusiastically received in the Netherlands and he worked as a geologists during the period in which, after Wegeners theory was rejected in the Netherlands, several Dutch geologists came with their own theories to explain the origin of continents and oceans and in which plate tectonics was introduced in the Netherlands. He had proposed his own theory, the undation theory, at the beginning of the 1930s and kept on developing it during the following years. He continued to do so until his death in 1983. The history of the undation theory thus sheds light on the history of geology in the Netherlands. I will trace the history of geology in the Netherlands using Rein van Bemmelen and his undation theory as a lense.

As a supplement to John L. Heilbron’s account, I will argue that, although the label ‘experimental physics’ can be rightfully used to describe aspects of Petrus van Musschenbroek’s (1692-1761) work, the latter’s understanding of ‘physica’ is to be situated within a broader framework in which theological, philosophical and teleological considerations continued to play an important role. First, I will draw attention to Musschenbroek’s views on the scope of physica and especially to his conception of a law of nature. It will be shown that by radicalizing certain aspects of Isaac Newton’s methodological ideas van Musschenbroek no longer considered physics as the discipline that uncovered causes from effects, as Newton did, but as the discipline that studies the effects of unknown causes. In addition, I will show that van Musschenbroek endorsed the view that the laws of nature are contingent on God’s free will and that they are knowable due to his goodness. Second, it will be argued that for van Musschenbroek physics, alongside with teleology, had clear physico-theological repercussions. Along the way, van Musschenbroek’s views on the principle of sufficient reason will be discussed for the first time.

The Subject of Rosi Braidotti: Politics and Concepts brings into focus the diverse influence of the work of Rosi Braidotti on academic fields in the humanities and the social sciences such as the study and scholarship in - among others - feminist theory, political theory, continental philosophy, philosophy of science and technology, cultural studies, ethnicity and race studies. Inspired by Braidotti's philosophy of nomadic relations of embodied thought, the volume is a mapping exercise of productive engagements and instructive interactions by a variety of international, outstanding and world-renowned scholars with texts and concepts developed by Braidotti throughout her immense body of work. In Braidotti's work, traversing themes of engagements emerge of politics and philosophy across generations and continents. Therefore, the edited volume invites prominent scholars at different stages of their careers and from around the world to engage with Braidotti's work in terms of concepts and/or political practice.

Kees (officially "Cornelis") Zwaan died in his house in Doorn, The Netherlands, on June 16, 1999. Much too soon and unexpected | at least by me until his final deterioration; I had always thought that he would live as long as his parents, the more so when he had recoverated remarkably fast and well from major cancer surgery a year earlier. Most of this year he spent on completing "Solar and Stellar Magnetic Activity", a book co- authored with Karel Schrijver that is now in print (Cambridge University Press). Kees' total dedication to that large effort made me expect the same as I witness in other ocially retired but highly motivated curiosity-driven scientists: continuing interest into high age, with actually youthful enthousiasm and productivity.

Although René Descartes' (1596-1650) is best remembered today for writing "I think, therefore, I am," his unique contribution to the history of ideas was his effort to construct a philosophy that would be sympathetic to the new sciences that emerged in the seventeenth century. In four major publications, he fashioned a philosophical system that accommodated the needs of these new sciences, thereby earning the unrelenting hostility of both Catholic and Calvinist theologians, who relied on the scholastic philosophy that Descartes hoped to replace. His contemporaries claimed that his proofs of God's existence, in the Meditations, were so unsuccessful that he must have been a cryptic atheist, and that his discussion of skepticism served merely to fan the flames of libertinism. Although Descartes died in Stockholm in obscurity, he soon became one of the most famous philosophers of the seventeenth century, a status that he continues to enjoy today. This English-language biography addresses the complete range of Descartes' interests in theology, philosophy, and the sciences, and traces his intellectual development throughout his entire career