Balthasar van der Pol (27 January 1889 – 6 October 1959) 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 ...

Life and work

Van der Pol began his studies of physics in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

in 1911. J. A. Fleming offered Van der Pol the use of the Pender Electrical Laboratory at University College for a study of the heuristics of wireless reception on board ships. In

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

he also worked with

J. J. Thomson Sir Joseph John Thomson (18 December 1856 – 30 August 1940) was an English physicist who received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1906 "in recognition of the great merits of his theoretical and experimental investigations on the conduction of ...

. Upon his return to the Netherlands, Balthasar worked with

Hendrik Lorentz Hendrik Antoon Lorentz ( ; ; 18 July 1853 – 4 February 1928) was a Dutch theoretical physicist who shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in Physics with Pieter Zeeman for their discovery and theoretical explanation of the Zeeman effect. He derive ...

Teylers Stichting The Teylers Stichting (English: Teylers Foundation) is a Dutch Foundation (non-profit), foundation founded with the heritage of the Dutch 18th century cloth merchant and banker Pieter Teyler van der Hulst to support the people in need and encourage ...

. For his thesis he wrote ''The effect of an ionised gas on electro-magnetic wave propagation and its application to radio, as demonstrated by glow-discharge measurement'' under the supervision of Willem Henri Julius. He was awarded his Ph.D. in 1920. He joined

Philips Research Laboratories Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

in 1921, where he worked until his retirement in 1949. As observed by

Hendrik Casimir Hendrik Brugt Gerhard Casimir (15 July 1909 – 4 May 2000) was a Dutch physicist who made significant contributions to the field of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics. He is best known for his work on the Casimir effect, which descr ...

, "Radio might have remained a field of haphazard empiricism along with wild commercial ventures, but for the influence of men like Van der Pol who stressed the need for a more scientific approach." The differential equations of coupled electrical systems drew his interest, and he developed the idea of "relaxation oscillations". With J. van der Mark he applied the idea to the heartbeat, which provided one of the earliest quantitative models of the action potential. These studies led him to the van der Pol equation and

Oliver Heaviside Oliver Heaviside ( ; 18 May 1850 – 3 February 1925) was an English mathematician and physicist who invented a new technique for solving differential equations (equivalent to the Laplace transform), independently developed vector calculus, an ...

’s

operational calculus Operational calculus, also known as operational analysis, is a technique by which problems in Mathematical Analysis, analysis, in particular differential equations, are transformed into algebraic problems, usually the problem of solving a polynomia ...

for dealing with differential equations. He submitted articles to ''Philosophical Magazine'' on the operational calculus and, in coordination with H. Bremmer, wrote ''Modern Operational Calculus based on the Two-sided Laplace Integral'', published by Cambridge University Press. He was awarded the

Institute of Radio Engineers The Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) was a professional organization which existed from 1912 until December 31, 1962. On January 1, 1963, it merged with the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) to form the Institute of Electrical ...

(now the

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)

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

in 1935. The

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10443 van der Pol was named after him. Van der Pol became member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

in 1949.

Works

* 1928: (with J van der Mark) ''The Heartbeat considered as a Relaxation oscillation, and an Electrical Model of the Heart''. Phil. Mag. Suppl. No. 6 pp 763–775 * 1947
An electro-mechanical investigation of the Riemann zeta function in the critical strip

Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society The ''Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society'' is a quarterly mathematical journal published by the American Mathematical Society. Scope It publishes surveys on contemporary research topics, written at a level accessible to non-experts. ...

53: 976–81 * 1964: (with H. Bremmer) ''Operational Calculus''

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...

* 1960: ''Selected Scientific Papers'', North-Holland Two volumes

References

* December 1917
Balth van der Pol
Personalities in Wireless,

Wireless World ''Electronics World'' (''Wireless World'', founded in 1913, and in October 1983 renamed ''Electronics & Wireless World'') is a technical magazine published by Datateam Business Media Ltd that covers electronics and RF engineering and is aimed at ...

, page 592. * H Bremmer (1960,1
The Scientific Work of Balthasar van der Pol

Philips Technical Review Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

22
Dr. Balthsar van der Pol (1889-1959)
from Philips archives * Giorgio Israel (2004) "Technological Innovation and New Mathematics: van der Pol and the birth of non-linear dynamics", pages 52 to 77 in ''Technological Concepts and Mathematical Models in the Evolution of Modern Engineering Systems'', edited by Ana Milian Gasca and others,

Birkhäuser Birkhäuser was a Swiss publisher founded in 1879 by Emil Birkhäuser. It was acquired by Springer Science+Business Media in 1985. Today it is an imprint used by two companies in unrelated fields: * Springer continues to publish science (parti ...

Balthasar Van der Pol
at IEEE.org * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pol, Balthasar Van Der 1889 births 1959 deaths 20th-century Dutch physicists IEEE Medal of Honor recipients Scientists from Utrecht (city) Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology Utrecht University alumni Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences 20th-century Dutch inventors Valdemar Poulsen Gold Medal recipients