Johannes (Jan) Martinus Burgers (January 13, 1895 – June 7, 1981) 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 ...

and the brother of the physicist Wilhelm G. Burgers. Burgers studied in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration w ...

under

Paul Ehrenfest Paul Ehrenfest (18 January 1880 – 25 September 1933) was an Austrian theoretical physicist, who made major contributions to the field of statistical mechanics and its relations with quantum mechanics, including the theory of phase transition ...

, where he obtained his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

in 1918. He is credited to be the father of Burgers' equation, the

Burgers vector In materials science, the Burgers vector, named after Dutch physicist Jan Burgers, is a vector, often denoted as , that represents the magnitude and direction of the lattice distortion resulting from a dislocation in a crystal lattice. The ve ...

dislocation In materials science, a dislocation or Taylor's dislocation is a linear crystallographic defect or irregularity within a crystal structure that contains an abrupt change in the arrangement of atoms. The movement of dislocations allow atoms to s ...

theory and the

Burgers material A Burgers material is a viscoelastic material having the properties both of elasticity and viscosity. It is named after the Dutch physicist Johannes Martinus Burgers. Overview Maxwell representation Given that one Maxwell material has an ela ...

viscoelasticity In materials science and continuum mechanics, viscoelasticity is the property of materials that exhibit both viscous and elastic characteristics when undergoing deformation. Viscous materials, like water, resist shear flow and strain linearl ...

. Jan Burgers was one of the co-founders of the International Union of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (IUTAM) in 1946, and was its secretary-general from 1946 until 1952. In 1931 he became 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 1955 he became foreign member.

Early life and education

Burgers was born in

Arnhem, Netherlands 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 banks of ...

. There he attended both primary and secondary school. He attended Leiden University from 1914 until 1917. Burgers became a Doctor of Mathematical and Physical Sciences in 1918, writing a thesis entitled "Het Atoommodel van Rutherford-Bohr" (The Model of the Atom according to Rutherford and Bohr).

Career

Jan Burgers took his first position out of graduate school as Conservator at the Physical Laboratory of the Teyler's Foundation. From September 1918 until October 1955, Dr. Burgers was professor of Aerodynamics and Hydrodynamics at the

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

. He was also secretary of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and Shipbuilding (1921-1924) and later the department's chairman (1929-1931). Burgers also worked with scientists including

Theodore von Karman Theodore may refer to: Places * Theodore, Alabama, United States * Theodore, Australian Capital Territory * Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia * Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada * Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Saskatche ...

, L. Prandt, R. von Mises,

G.I. Taylor Sir Geoffrey Ingram Taylor OM FRS FRSE (7 March 1886 – 27 June 1975) was a British physicist and mathematician, and a major figure in fluid dynamics and wave theory. His biographer and one-time student, George Batchelor, described him as " ...

and W.F. Durand, and Paul Ehrenfest. Jan Burgers researched

fluid dynamics In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids— liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) a ...

, worked on the theory of turbulence, and explored what came to be known as the Burgers' equation. He also studied crystallography with his brother Wilhelm G. Burgers. Burgers and his wife, Anna immigrated to the United States in 1955 where Burgers accepted a position of research professor at the Institute for Physical Dynamics and Applied Mathematics (now the Institute for Physical Science and Technology) at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

. Burgers continued his interest in fluid dynamics while at the University of Maryland, and was recognized for his studies in gas dynamics, plasma physics, shock waves, and related phenomena. Burgers retired from the University of Maryland in 1965.

Notes

References

External links

* * A.J.Q. Alkemade
''Burgers, Johannes Martinus (1895–1981)''
in Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland.

biography at the University of Maryland
JM Burgers Centrum

The Burgers program for fluid dynamics
at the University of Maryland
Oral History interview transcript with Johannes Burgers on 9 June 1962, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
* , 32nd Gibbs lecture delivered by Burgers at Philadelphia, Tuesday, 20 January 1959 {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgers, Jan 20th-century Dutch physicists 1895 births 1981 deaths People from Arnhem Delft University of Technology faculty Leiden University alumni Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ASME Medal recipients University of Maryland, College Park faculty Fluid dynamicists 20th-century American engineers Fellows of the American Physical Society