http://www.utwente.nl/ewi/geschiedenisinf/deel_3/duijvestijn_met_emiraat/

Duijvestijn met emiraat (blz 67)
Pensioen voor informatica-nestor Duijvestijn
Eindelijk tijd voor wetenschap


Duijvestijn Emeritus (page 67)
Pension for computer Nestor Duijvestijn
Finally time for science

Professor A. J. W. Duijvestijn comes with emirate . Thus disappears from UT 's most colorful professors . Bearer of the title " student friendly " , founder of the former data center , but it is especially smart guy with foresight widely seen as the driving force behind the creation of the first Dutch computer science faculty in Twente .

" Duijvestijn was open to virtually all initiatives of students ," said Edwin Huygens ( just graduated ) who spent two years with the outgoing professor in the Faculty . " Slightly scattered " , as Huygens describes him . " Several times people from the council had to nudge him when he was on the turn. " Dr . GF van der Hoeven , one of Duijvestijns staff calls him chaotic. "That was his charm on one side . But you wished that he had his act together a bit more in order. " According to Van der Hoeven , the highly learned a tireless man . " Always something new to get excited about. But he was also pretty people bother with it . By his manner he put some pressure on people . Along the lines of : I did this and agreed that , I 'm excited doing, but do not have time for that , are you doing anything ? "
pioneers

His former colleague prof.dr.G.A. Blaauw : " Duijvestijn was a factor for me to come to Twente . This has affected me personally , and I guess I 'm not the only one. He is a nice person , had a clear vision of what needed to be done was tenacious but flexible , and was always willing to listen . " Blaauw Duijvestijn already learned at the Mathematical Centre ( MC ) know in Amsterdam in the fifties , where they experienced the beginning of the computer era Dutch together .

Arie Duijvestijn for 23 years , is the work which he first januan 1951 begins on the MC Amsterdam , only a sideline . He has just graduated as an electrical engineer Delft . Dissatisfied with his mathematical baggage he decides that knowledge in Amsterdam to go brush up . On 1 January 1951 he started at the MC to meet . Earn a living Mathematics for the evenings and weekends . But apparently knows the young engineer with his good time to jump . When he was hired in 1956 at the Philips Research Laboratory , he is not only a doctoraalbul richer , but also has its tweejange period of service in the Royal Navy .
program

On the Natlab young PhD engineer worked on programming the PETER (Philips Electronic Experimental rekenmachne ) and PASCAL (Philips Awful Quick Calculator) . For PETER , which consisted of radio tubes , gold modern wisdom ' a computer does not make mistakes "not yet . There was a lot of electronics tinkering and found that the machine Duijvestijns programs error based finished . The FACIT LX ( Duijvestijn calls it ' coffee ' ) he had to hand control calculations to discover . Errors in the PETER - mechanick Duijvestijn "If he worked consecutively for a whole day , it was beautiful. "

Duijvestijn began to bet Natlab his PhD . "Professor Construction Camp , who was working , asked me to calculate . Determinant for him Numerical My experience was that you never had to calculate determinants so when I suggested that it could be more convenient . It turned out to be having to do with the subdivision of rectangles in uneven squares " comparisons. Construction Camp was so excited that he Duijvestijns approach to promote him. Early on the matter

Riddle that thesis was entailed : What is the smallest number of unequal squares in which a square can be divided ? This problem has already been made ​​in 1903 and 75 years later , in 1978 , succeeded Duijvestijn there to solve it. Brute power, the DECcomputer ,

" A mathematical recreational problem" , so called Duijvestijn the persistent riddle which he had run . In the evenings and weekends the DEC in 1978 In his PhD , in 1962 , came to Duijvestijn calculations for subdivision into 19 squares , which did not lead to a solution. "The results we have written. I'm on a PhD . "
record

The solution proved to exist. Later of twenty squares According Duijvestijn has the record stood at 35 and later 24 . "That smallest square me that we have seen in retrospect, that is so wonderfully together . The structure under which they have sought , which has not, so that's why they got him to find . Never done Martin Gardner of Scientific American called my solution a pluperfect , so beautiful that he felt fit together , "says Duijvestijn proudly .

Duijvestijn until '65 at Philips , and Blaauw , from IBM , the computer science faculty formed along the " industrial block . " A matter of concern ," calls Duijvestijn the departure of scientists with industrial experience . The only one left who has worked in the industry is now Niemegeers . Duijvestijn : " Others have contacts , that's not the problem, but they have not worked themselves " .

The paperwork that 's coming at the university Duijvestijn describes as " awe right." " Thick notes, HOPE note : you can not actually get started. The administrative reform within the university: there are a lot of good sides , but we have of course a workload on the neck removed giving us too little time for research and education. We need to move towards a separation of management . "

According Duijvestijn now it can not worse . "It's not sustainable. I have not sustained. I love being back there now to put a point and to have scientific work time. "

According Duijvestijn are people from the industry for the university is no longer so attractive . Combining scientific research and industrial experience , he says, is extremely rare . " In the manufacturing industry , little research done and published little . That is always a problem . If we attract someone, we set out the requirements to scientific activity. "

Part-time professors will Duijvestijn an excellent institution . " But they take of your organizational worries of the day away . They come one day a week and the rest they are gone , "says Duijvestijn . " To some extent, they just bring more work with it . " According Duijvestijn it would be a good solution to bring . Professors for a long time in the industry under Three years , as he suggests .

[ THT - 1989 - news 26okt -5 ]