The rest is history

Somewhere in the no man’s land between completing my dissertation and the positive evaluation by the reading committee and my PhD defence a while later, I walked along the street with one of my paranymphs. I asked her if, should disaster strike, she would make sure that I would receive my doctorate posthumously. She agreed that she would. Luckily I did not need to collect on this favour. Behind this rather morbid conversation, lied a wish to go down in history a doctor engineer (dr.ir.). Although, or perhaps because I – intentionally – do not have children, I apparently have the need to immortalise my presence on this planet (for example in the TU Delft archives) in a different way. I became a doctor engineer (dr. ir), even though I do little with those titles.

The path towards these titles started with choosing a technology profile at secondary school. But I did mix it with other subjects like history and CKV 3 (art, dance, drama or music). I found history fascinating, especially interpreting the cartoons from newspapers of a time certain period. The cartoons illustrated the zeitgeist and public opinions of that time. It is surprising that we never got questions about controversial columns.

While I am on the topic of history, TU Delft has a long history dating back almost 185 years. It was founded as the Koninklijke Akademie (royal academy) in 1842, became the Polytechnische School (polytechnic) (1864), then the Technische Hogeschool (1905) (technical college), and finally the Technische Universiteit (1986) (technical university) that we know today. Even though the name has remained the same over the last four decades, today’s TU Delft is a different TU Delft to the one where I started studying in 2006, halfway through those four decades. What presumably not everyone knows is that TU Delft has a ‘university historian’ whose job it is to research and interpret TU Delft’s history. There are all sorts of sources available. For example, when I was on the board of the Het Technologisch Gezelschap (the chemical engineering study association) I was once in TU Delft’s city archive where I found minutes from board meetings in 1945.  But Delta’s reports (since 1969) are also an important source of information.

Four years ago I came across something of interest and typed up a short article

It was not my intention to become part of this valuable source of information, but four years ago I came across something that triggered me and typed up my thoughts. I submitted the piece to Delta and the rest is history. I hope my columns help the history writers in the future to get a picture of TU Delft in the 20s of the 21st century. Over 34 columns, I tried to shed light on TU Delft and the academic world in a positive, connecting, and optimistic way.

This is my last column. It has become increasingly difficult to come up with an original subject every month. So, I would like to hand over my place in Delta and thus in the history of TU Delft, to someone else, to a new voice.

I hope my columns have got you thinking, inspired you, and every now and then put a smile on your face.  See you on campus!