Willem "Wim" Hermsen (born September 7, 1947 in

Hilversum Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...

) is an astrophysicist and a former

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

player from 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 ...

. He finished in seventh position with the Dutch Men's Water Polo Team at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Two of his brothers,

André André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation ...

and

Henk Henk is a Dutch people, Dutch male given name, originally a short form of Hendrik (given name), Hendrik. It influenced "Hank" which is used in English-speaking countries (mainly in the US) as a form of "Henry (given name), Henry". People named "He ...

, also played water polo on the highest level, and represented the Netherlands in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, in 1960 and 1964. Hermsen obtained a PhD from Leiden University and was a professor at the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

from 2004 to 2012, specializing in

high-energy astrophysics High energy astronomy is the study of astronomical objects that release electromagnetic radiation of highly energetic wavelengths. It includes X-ray astronomy, gamma-ray astronomy, extreme UV astronomy, neutrino astronomy, and studies of cosmic ...

, and now holds an emeritus position there.

References

Dutch Olympic Committee

UvA album academicum
1947 births Living people Dutch astrophysicists Dutch male water polo players Olympic water polo players of the Netherlands Water polo players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Leiden University alumni University of Amsterdam faculty People from Hilversum Sportspeople from Hilversum 20th-century Dutch people {{Netherlands-waterpolo-bio-stub