From 1986 until his retirement in 2007, Wim headed the group Order/disorder in Soft Matter, which he combined with a position as professor, and later dean, at the Open University in Heerlen. Wim was an internationally recognized authority on liquid crystal physics – materials that combine the deformability of fluids with the optical properties of solids – and he was coauthor of a leading textbook in this field. His specific expertise was X-ray scattering, and at AMOLF he developed his own table-top wide-angle equipment.
Thanks in a large part to Wim, AMOLF became the Dutch contact person for the European Synchrotron Research Facility. Wim also coordinated the building of the Dutch-Belgian Beam Line (DUBBLE) at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), which was designed using the technical expertise of the mechanical and electronic support departments at AMOLF. Also, the AMOLF contribution to the software was substantial, covering beamline control, data analysis, and the firmware of the detector.
In 1999 Wim was awarded the Frederiks Medal by the Russian Liquid Crystal Society for his lifelong contributions to the field.
After his retirement in the Netherlands, Wim took up a professorship at Amherst (USA) but returned to the Netherlands after a few years to settle in Heerlen, keeping scientific contacts in Eindhoven and Julich (Germany). An important fruit of this period was the publication of his textbook Basic X-Ray Scattering for Soft Matter in 2016 which he considered a fitting final chapter to his scientific career. Wim leaves a legacy of more than 100 papers produced during his time at AMOLF and several generations of PhD students and postdocs that were trained in his lab.
Wim was a driven researcher and mentor. He will be remembered as an inspiring colleague: level-headed but with catchy sense of humour.
