Johannes Alphonsus Marie "Johan" Bleeker (born 20 July 1942) is a Dutch space research and technology scientist. He was director of the

Netherlands Institute for Space Research Space Research Organisation Netherlands (SRON) is the Dutch national institute for space research. It focuses on astrophysics, Earth observation, and exoplanetary research. SRON also develops new detection techniques for X-rays, infrared radia ...

from 1983 to 2003. He was involved in the setting up of the Horizon 2000 and Horizon 2000+ long term space science programs of the

European Space Agency The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member International organization, international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 ...

Career

Bleeker was born in

Leeuwarden Leeuwarden (; ; ; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in Friesland, Netherlands, with a population of 127,073 (2023). It is the provincial capital and seat of the Provin ...

on 20 July 1942. He attended the

Hogere Burgerschool The ''Hogere Burgerschool'' (''HBS'') (Dutch: Higher Civic School) was a secondary school type that existed between 1863 and 1974 in the Netherlands and the Dutch Empire. These schools, with a five- or sometimes six-year program, continued in 1 ...

. Bleeker subsequently studied

engineering physics Engineering physics (EP), sometimes engineering science, is the field of study combining pure science disciplines (such as physics, mathematics, chemistry or biology) and engineering disciplines (computer, nuclear, electrical, aerospace, medic ...

Delft University of Technology The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, a ...

. He continued his studies at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...

, where in 1971 he obtained his

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

under

Hendrik C. van de Hulst Hendrik Christoffel "Henk" van de Hulst (19 November 1918 – 31 July 2000) was a Dutch astronomer. In 1944, while a student in Utrecht, he predicted the existence of the 21 cm hyperfine line of neutral interstellar hydrogen. After this line ...

with a thesis titled: ''The diffuse X-ray sky''. Bleeker stayed at Leiden University and worked at the Cosmic-Ray Working Group until 1983, during the final two years he was group leader. In 1983 he became director of the Utrecht Laboratory for Space Research, which later became the

. Bleeker was director until 2003, he was succeeded by . Apart from his position at the Netherlands Institute for Space Research Bleeker was a professor of space research and exploration at

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; , formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public university, public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2023, it had an enrollment of ...

. He was an extraordinary professor (Dutch: ) from 1985 to 1991, and was then appointed as full professor. He took up emeritus status in 2007.

Research

The research and projects of Bleeker have covered amongst others: high energy astrophysics, cosmic-ray physics and X-ray astronomy. Bleeker chaired the Survey Committee that set up the long term space science program

Horizon 2000 The Science Programme of the European Space Agency is a long-term programme of Outline of space science, space science and space exploration missions. Managed by the agency's Directorate of Science, The programme funds the development, launch, ...

of the

and also took part in establishing the follow-on program Horizon 2000+. In 1996 he publicly criticized the budget constraints on these programs, which were imposed by the European ministers.

Honors and awards

Bleeker was elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW, 1988), of the Royal Holland Society of Sciences and Humanities (KHMW, 1989), of the Academia Europaea (AE, 1989) and of the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA,1989). He was appointed honorary member of the Royal Institute of Engineers (KIVI, 2007) and elected corresponding member of the Académie de l'Air et de l'Espace (AAE, 2009). In 2002 Bleeker was made a Commander in the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands (, ) is a Dutch honours system, Dutch order of chivalry founded by William I of the Netherlands on 29 September 1815. The Order of the Netherlands Lion wa ...

. Minor planet 9693 Bleeker is named after him.

References

External links

Profile at Leiden University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bleeker, Johan 1942 births Living people Commanders of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Delft University of Technology alumni 20th-century Dutch engineers Leiden University alumni Members of Academia Europaea Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences People from Leeuwarden Space scientists Academic staff of Utrecht University