Johanna Geertruida (Truus) van Cittert-Eymers 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 cau ...

historian of science The history of science covers the development of science from ancient times to the present. It encompasses all three major branches of science: natural, social, and formal. Science's earliest roots can be traced to Ancient Egypt and Mesopo ...

, museum director and author.

Early years

Johanna Geertruida Eymers was born in Velp, in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 19 June 1903, the only child of teacher Johan Anton Eymers and Johanna Hermina Aleida Huetinck. She graduated from secondary school with a HBS-b diploma in

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

in 1921 and moved to

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

to begin studying physics at the

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...

there in 1923.

Career

Eymers began work as a researcher in the experimental physics group 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 Lei ...

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

in 1929 and in 1932 became the head of the teaching laboratory. Ornstein's group did both pure and applied research, with the latter often at the request of businesses or government institutions. Thus it came to be that Eymers published research about atomic emission spectra but her doctoral research concerned the illumination of an art gallery in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

. Eymers graduated cum laude with a PhD in 1935 and did postdoctoral research in

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. ...

, specifically on luminescent bacteria. After her marriage to van Cittert in 1938, van Cittert-Eymers's employment was terminated because of the

marriage bar A marriage bar is the practice of restricting the employment of married women. Common in Western countries from the late 19th century to the 1970s, the practice often called for the termination of the employment of a woman on her marriage, espec ...

which was effective in the Netherlands until 1957. She resented her loss of employment and worked unpaid to assist her husband in his work as curator of the University Museum.

Personal life

Eymers married her colleague, the physicist

Pieter Hendrik van Cittert Pieter Hendrik van Cittert (30 May 1889, Gouda – 8 October 1959, Utrecht) was a Dutch physicist and science historian. He was born in Gouda, Netherlands, to Benjamin Pieter van Cittert and Petronella Antonia Huber, and died on October 8, 1959, ...

in 1938. The couple had a son, Benjamin, in 1939 who died in infancy and a daughter, , in 1943 who became a biologist.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cittert-Eymers, J. G. van Historians of physics Women physicists 1903 births 1988 deaths 20th-century Dutch physicists Utrecht University alumni People from Gelderland