Wim van der Zande retires with dedicated symposium
In celebration of his illustrious career, Dr. Wim van der Zande’s family, friends, colleagues and other close relations gathered at ARCNL for a farewell symposium. Speakers from different stages in Wim’s career shared stories of Wim as a supervisor, colleague, teacher, director, and friend.
Friends from every phase of his career
The symposium was chaired by Dr. Bart Noordam, a senior vice president at ASML and one of Wim’s oldest friends and former colleagues. Although, as Noordam explains, in Wim’s case these are one and the same: “Welcome, family, friends… that’s it. No colleagues; with Wim, you’re either a family member, or a friend.” He went on to share how his and Wim’s lives and careers had run parallel to each other for many years: “We were born and raised in the same city, did our PhDs at the same university, both worked at AMOLF, and later both at ASML. I think Wim and I have been at each other’s goodbye parties about 10 times.”
Next, Dr. Annemieke Petrignani gave a talk about both personal experiences and scientific results. As one of Wim’s former PhD students at AMOLF and Radboud University in Nijmegen, Petrignani studied the physics of airglow, the faint emission of light by the atmosphere due to the ionization of atmospheric particles. “The time I was working on my PhD was one of the best times of my scientific life,” Petrignani shared.
Prof. David Parker, another friend and colleague of Wim’s from Radboud University, shared stories of an unusual first meeting at a party in California, a 30-year Thanksgiving tradition, and Wim’s contributions to physics in Nijmegen. Wim was known in Nijmegen as a great teacher, and his project to build a free-electron terahertz laser, dubbed FLARE, remains widely used by Radboud University researchers.
ARCNL celebrates its interWim director
After a short break, Wim’s predecessor and successor for director of ARCNL took the stage as a comedic duo. Prof. Joost Frenken and Prof. Marcelo Ackermann joked about the similarities among ARCNL directors, including a love of road biking, as they revealed biking outfits under their suits. They told the story of how Wim came to ARCNL as interim director, peppered with puns on his name (“interWim director”) and playful banter: “Wim has a way of explaining things that by the end, he understands it completely.” Finally, they closed with an open invitation for Wim to keep coming by the institute for coffee.
Wim closed the symposium with a heartfelt speech, reflecting on the science and people of his career. First and foremost, he said, “I’m a lucky man.” He expressed the importance of caring for those around him, inspired by a motto at ASML: “Challenge, collaborate, and care.” Continuing this sentiment, Wim shared how, over the course of his career, the emphasis on diversity and inclusion grew, and that at some point, he realized: “All people have a first name. All you need to do is learn their first name and appreciate and accept them for who they are.” Wim’s commitment to caring and inclusion shows in the way that everyone who has worked with him feels that he considers them a friend.
During the reception, Prof. Marcel Levi, President of the executive board of NWO (Dutch Research Council), gave a speech in which he expressed his gratitude to Wim for how he has led ARCNL these past years. Next, ARCNL institute manager Dr. Marjan Fretz shared a presentation about her 10 years working with Wim. Gifts were presented, including a video of the “Elements Song” made by the people of ARCNL. The institute also gathered money to donate to the Make-a-Wish foundation, to which Wim pledged a matching donation.
It was a celebratory afternoon, full of stories, science, and laughter. Many congratulations to Wim on his retirement!
Credits
Photos: Floris Krelage
