Speakers

Herbert Löhner is professor of physics at the University of Groningen since 1993. He was appointed associate professor in 1988 at the Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut where he performs research in subatomic physics since then. Originally from Germany and educated (dr. rer. nat. habil.) at the University of Münster, he got involved in the research of hadronic matter at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, USA, which he continued with the first available nuclear beams at the CERN-SPS exploring the matter of the early universe. At the KVI, dr. Löhner continued to study the behaviour of highly excited nuclear as well as excited "charmonium" states which provide insight into the mechanism of QCD. Further, he got involved in explorations of high-energy neutrinos and he made contributions to medical applications of novel sensor technology. Dr. Löhner was director of physics education and member of the faculty board of natural sciences and technology at University Groningen. He received the faculty teaching award 2005 and became member of honours in the Dutch Physical Society.

Hendrik W. Lenstra received his Ph.D. in mathematics from the Universiteit van Amsterdam in 1977. He was a full professor at Amsterdam from 1978 until 1986, at Berkeley, California, from 1987 until 2003, and since 1998 at the Universiteit Leiden in the Netherlands. Lenstra is best known for introducing advanced techniques in the area of number-theoretic algorithms. These have important applications to computer security. Lenstra has been a member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science since 1984. In 1998 he won the Spinoza Award, and in 2007 he received an Academy Professorship from the Royal Dutch Academy of Science.

James W. McAllister is senior lecturer at the Institute of Philosophy, University of Leiden. He is editor of the journal, International Studies in the Philosophy of Science, and a former president of the Dutch Society for Philosophy of Science. He gained his PhD at the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge, in 1989. He has held visiting appointments at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, the Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Pittsburgh, Delft University of Technology, and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study, Wassenaar. His publications include Beauty and Revolution in Science (Cornell University Press, 1996) and The Question of Style in Philosophy and the Arts (coeditor; Cambridge University Press, 1995). He leads a research programme on "Philosophical Foundations of the Historiography of Science" funded by the Dutch research council NWO.

Since 1971 Jan van Maanen taught mathematics in all educational levels except primary education. Until February 2012 he was professor of mathematics education at Utrecht University and chair of the Freudenthal Institute, where he continues his supervision of PhD students (a day every other week). At the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FWN) of the University of Groningen he now coaches university staff in their teaching. He teaches himself in FWN's Master Education and Communication. For his research, Jan is much interested in the history of mathematics and its application in mathematics teaching. In the years 1997 to 2000 he co-chaired a large-scale international study about this topic under the auspices of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI). On Wednesdays Jan plays the cello in a string quartet, and sings in a choir.

Doekele Stavenga studied Experimental Physics at the University of Groningen, where he also performed his PhD study on "Visual receptor optics, rhodopsin and pupil in fly retinula cells". He was research fellow at the Australian National University (Canberra; 1975-1977) and afterwards returned to Groningen, where he continued his investigations on the physical basis of insect vision. He was professor of Biophysics from 1991 to 2007. An honorary professorship allowed him to continue his research. In addition to the physics of vision his recent focus has become the physics of animal coloration, specifically of birds, beetles and butterflies.

Eric Bergshoeff got his PhD in 1983 at the University of Leiden. He promoted on the subject of supersymmetry and supergravity. After this he had several post-doc positions in Boston (USA), Trieste (Italy) and CERN (Geneva, Switserland). In 1991 he was appointed a position in Groningen as a KNAW Fellow. In 2001 he was installed as a professor in theoretical high-energy physics. This was followed in 2007 by the Nicolaas Mulerius stipendium 2006. In 2009 he was appointed the Sitter-professorship for theoretical physics and in 2010 he was nominated Akademie hoogleraar by the KNAW.