Jan Frederik Schouten (29 May 1910 – 12 August 1980) was a Dutch

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

, and Professor at the

Eindhoven University of Technology The Eindhoven University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, located in the city of Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc a ...

, known for his contributions to

biophysics Biophysics is an interdisciplinary science that applies approaches and methods traditionally used in physics to study biological phenomena. Biophysics covers all scales of biological organization, from molecular to organismic and populations. ...

. H. Bouma
Levensbericht J.F. Schouten
in: ''Jaarboek, 1980'', Amsterdam, pp. 177

Biography

Born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

as son of

Jan Arnoldus Schouten Jan Arnoldus Schouten (28 August 1883 – 20 January 1971) was a Dutch mathematician and Professor at the Delft University of Technology. He was an important contributor to the development of tensor calculus and Ricci calculus, and was one of the ...

, Schouten received his PhD cum laude in 1937 in

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

at the Utrecht University with a thesis entitled "Visuele meting van adaptatie en van de wederzijdse beïnvloeding van netvlieselementen" under supervision of

Leonard Ornstein Leonard Salomon Ornstein (November 12, 1880 in Nijmegen, the Netherlands – May 20, 1941 in Utrecht, the Netherlands) was a Dutch physicist. Biography Ornstein studied theoretical physics with Hendrik Antoon Lorentz at University of Leid ...

. After graduations Schouten as researcher started working in industry at

Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium The Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium (English translation: ''Philips Physics Laboratory'') or NatLab was the Dutch section of the Philips research department, which did research for the product divisions of that company. Originally located in the ...

led by Gilles Holst. Here he used optical techniques for the study of the acoustic problem. Schouten demonstrate that the way we perceive a pitch in the most sounds is different from the way

Hermann von Helmholtz Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The Helmholtz Association, ...

had proposed, and which had become generally accepted. Schouten became manager of the telephony group, where he sought efficient methods to convey the speech signal. He discovered, along with Frank de Jager during the Second World War, that there were great opportunities in the digitalization of the voice signal opened. Independently in the United States at about the same time, Bell lab came up with a similar discovery, which preluded the digital era. After a period as director of a telephony Philips factory, Schouten returned to scientific research. With the support of

Hendrik Casimir Hendrik Brugt Gerhard Casimir (15 July 1909 – 4 May 2000) was a Dutch physicist best known for his research on the two-fluid model of superconductors (together with C. J. Gorter) in 1934 and the Casimir effect (together with D. Polder) in 19 ...

, he founded the Instituut voor Perceptie Onderzoek (IPO) (Institute for Perception Research) at the

, in which Philips was a shareholder. From 1958 to 1978 he was professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology. He died in 1980 in Eindhoven. Schouten was appointed member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 1961. The Eindhoven University of Technology named after him the J.F. Schouten School for User System Interaction, research institute of the dedicated to user interaction with man-made systems.Schouten J.F.
tuencyclopedie.nl

Publications

* 1937. ''Visuele meting van adaptatie en van de wederzijdse beïnvloeding van netvlieselementen'' Drukkerij, Schotanus & Jens. * 1958. ''De reikende hand''. Inaugural speech Eindhoven. Groningen : Wolters * 1978. ''Energie en vitaliteit : afscheidscollege, gegeven op 12 mei 1978 aan de Technische hogeschool Eindhoven''. ;About Schouten * H. Bouma
Levensbericht J.F. Schouten
in: ''Jaarboek, 1980'', Amsterdam, pp. 176-179

References

External links

Jan Frederik Schouten
biografischportaal.nl
Schouten J.F.
tuencyclopedie.nl (in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Schouten, Jan Frederik 1910 births 1980 deaths 20th-century Dutch physicists Utrecht University alumni Eindhoven University of Technology faculty Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Scientists from Rotterdam