Professor Huib Jan van Langevelde

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.© Paul Boven

Last week, JIVE Director and parttime rock star Dr Huib Jan van Langevelde delivered his oratio, i.e. the public lecture that marks the inauguration of a Professor at a Dutch university. He is to teach Galactic Radio Astronomy at Leiden University, which used to be his Alma Mater in days of yore.

His theme was Clarity: Brightness and Transparency in Radio Astronomy. He started with a clear exposition of galactic astronomy for the benefit of the non-professionals in the festive audience. And of course he brightly discussed the remarkable things one can do with Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). But, being the Director of an important international institute, he also took the opportunity to lob a few policy ruminations over the heads of the audience at the various agencies that finance large European science infrastructures. In essence, he urged them to be more transparent in their dealings, for instance with the European VLBI Network (EVN). The entire text may be found at http://www.jive.nl/oratie

Afterwards, there was the usual gathering of the Dutch astronomical family, raising their glasses to the young Prof. Among other luminaries was Richard Schilizzi, the visionary creator and first Director of the Joint Institute for VLBI in Europe (JIVE).

More information may be gleaned by clicking on "Archive" at the top of this webpage, and searching with the keyword "VLBI" or "JIVE". Or, alternatively, by means of the following link.