Nicolaas Bloembergen (11 March 1920 – 5 September 2017) was a Dutch American physicist who made significant contributions to the field of nonlinear optics and spectroscopy. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1981. He was born on 11 March 1920, in Dordrecht, Netherlands. He studied physics at the University of Utrecht in 1938. He thrived under Professor L.S. Ornstein, who recognized the youngster’s potential and gave him plenty of opportunities to learn. As World War II raged on, his idyllic student years were threatened by the increasingly chaotic political climate in Europe. During the occupation of the Netherlands in 1941, Ornstein was kicked out of the university. After the Nazis closed the university in 1943, Bloembergen managed to get a degree from Phil Drs, which was equivalent to an MSc.
Famous Nicolaas Bloembergen Quotes
“Increased knowledge clearly implies increased responsibility.” ~ Nicolaas Bloembergen“After the German occupation of Holland in May 1940, the last two dark years of the war I spent hiding indoors from the Nazis, eating tulip bulbs to fill the stomach and reading Kramers’ book “Quantum Theorie des Elektrons und der Strahlung” by the light of a storm lamp.” ~ Nicolaas Bloembergen“I am ever more intrigued by the correspondence between mathematics and physical facts. The adaptability of mathematics to the description of physical phenomena is uncanny.” ~ Nicolaas Bloembergen“As was the case for Nobel’s own invention of dynamite, the uses that are made of increased knowledge can serve both beneficial and potentially harmful ends. Increased knowledge clearly implies increased responsibility. We reject the notion advocated in some quarters that man should stop eating from the tree of knowledge, as if that were humanly possible.” ~ Nicolaas Bloembergen
