Technische Hogeschool Bandung Netherlands Government Information Service in India
Which employer did Kees Posthumus work for from 1941 to 1947?
Kees Posthumus Kees Posthumus ( 16 June 1902 – 15 September 1972 ) was a Dutch chemist . He was the second rector magnificus of the Eindhoven University of Technology . Biography . Kees Posthumus was born in Harlingen , Friesland , as the son of a wholesaler in wood . He attended HBS and then went on to study chemistry at the University of Groningen . He attained his propaedeuse there , whereupon he moved to the University of Leiden to continue his studies . While there he came into contact with Albert Einstein ( who was a guest lecturer there ) and with Johan Huizinga ( through the rowing club ) . Upon gaining his engineering degree he took a teaching position at the Christian HBS in Leiden , while working on his doctorate under prof.dr . F.A. . Schreinemakers . While at the HBS he also made use of the HBS lab to do experiments for his thesis ; he was promoted in 1929 on the topic of Explosion areas in gaseous mixtures . He left for the Dutch East Indies soon after his promotion , to teach chemistry at the Christian Lyceum of Bandung . He later became rector of the school . He published an article in De Gids in 1940 that is known as Posthumus Law nowadays . In 1941 he was appointed extraordinary professor of the Technische Hogeschool Bandung . After the start of the Japanese occupation Posthumus was first interned at Bandung prison , then at the Cimahi concentration camp . He kept on teaching during his imprisonment . After the Japanese surrender Posthumus became head of the Netherlands Government Information Service in India ; in March 1946 , he was made chairman of the Department of Technical Sciences at the provisional University of Bandung ( housed in the facilities of the TH Bandung ) . In 1947 and 1948 he was a foreign correspondent for the Groene Amsterdammer and openly opposed the first police actions against the Indonesian independence movement . Following the independence of Indonesia , he remained at the Bandung Institute of Technology until 1955 . After his return to The Netherlands in 1955 Posthumus was part of the advisory committee for the founding of the Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven . As a result , professor Dorgelo hired him as part of the original staff and he became one of the institutions first professors in September 1956 . He succeeded Dorgelo as rector in 1961 . Posthumus tenure as rector magnificus was a time of expansion for the Hogeschool . First of all in the physical sense : the campus was expanded and the first highrises were erected . Posthumus also secured funds from Philips to buy the organ that is still in the Auditorium . Posthumus also pushed for expansion of scientific activities , lobbying for the creation of a center for educational research , an architectural department , a business administration department and a faculty of medicine – all of which he achieved , with the exception of a medical department ( the university did start a department of biomedical technology in 1997 though ) . He also supported a cooperative agreement with the University of Nigeria , Nsukka , the first university of the newly independent Nigeria . Posthumus is not remembered by his colleagues and students for being a brilliant scientist ; rather , he left his mark through his administrative qualities and achievements . Starting in 1960 he was appointed deputy chairman of the national Board of Education ( Dutch : Onderwijsraad ) . In November 1967 he was appointed government commissioner for higher education by Education minister Veringa ; this was also the reason for his stepping down as rector per the following academic year ( conflict of interest of these positions ) , in favor of Ton van Trier . In 1968 Posthumus published a policy brief entitled De universiteit , doelstellingen , functies , structuren ( English : The university , goals , functions , structures ) , which is commonly known as the Nota Posthumus . This brief was the basis for policy reform proposals by minister Veringa and his successor van Veen . Posthumus died in Eindhoven in 1972 . The Eindhoven University has a bust of him in the Traverse building . Posthumus Law . According to Posthumus Law , the result of grading a test or exam in education is that one quarter of students will fail , one half will get a middle but passing grade and one quarter will receive a high grade . Put differently : the academic requirements adjust themselves to the bell curve . Quotes . - Theoretical physicists are prophets , mathematicians are high priests and chemists are acolytes . - Academic research and educations are two parts of the same weave ; their threads may be discerned from one another , but not separated from each other without destroying the texture . References . - De kleine TU/e encyclopedie 1956-2006 , Joep Huiskamp , Eindhoven , 2006 , External links . - Theorie of praktijk : een pseudoprobleem Lecture given by Posthumus at the second Dies Natalis of the TU/e , on 23 June 1958 . - De lotgevallen van de Technische Hogeschool te Eindhoven gedurende het cursusjaar 1960/1961 Lecture by the Rector Magnificus of the Technische Hogeschool te Eindhoven on 20 September 1961 . - De lotgevallen van de Technische Hogeschool te Eindhoven gedurende het cursusjaar 1962–1963 Lecture by the Rector Magnificus of the Technische Hogeschool te Eindhoven on 16 September 1963 . - En toch.. . maar ook.. . : lotgevallen van de Technische Hogeschool te Eindhoven , gedurende het cursusjaar 1963–1964 Lecture by the Rector Magnificus of the Technische Hogeschool te Eindhoven on 21 September 1964 . - Vrijheid en vrijheidsgraden Lecture by the Rector Magnificus of the Technische Hogeschool te Eindhoven , on 20 September 1965 . - Academische Renaissance Posthumus farewell lecture upon transferring the rectorship of the Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven on 16 September 1968 .