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Jo van Leeuwen, the other physicist behind the Bohr-Van Leeuwen theorem:

ORAL · Invited

Abstract

The first four women to obtain a PhD in physics at Leiden University all graduated with Nobel laureate Hendrik Lorentz. Hendrika Johanna (Jo) van Leeuwen (1887−1974) was one of them. Her thesis elucidates that magnetism is exclusively a quantum phenomenon – a result that was independently also obtained by Niels Bohr in his thesis and that is now commonly known as the Bohr–van Leeuwen theorem. From 1920 onwards Van Leeuwen worked at the Technische Hoogeschool in Delft (now Delft University of Technology). Initially serving as an assistant, she was appointed as a reader in theoretical and applied physics in 1947, becoming the first female reader in Delft. This talk outlines Van Leeuwen's work and early contributions to the quantum theory of magnetism – putting it in the broader context of quantum developments and of women in physics in the Netherlands / Western Europe during the (early) 20th century.

Publication: M. Blaauboer and M. W. van der Heijden, "Jo van Leeuwen, the other physicist behind the Bohr-Van Leeuwen theorem" in Women in the History of Quantum Physics: Beyond Knabenphysik, edited by P. Charbonneau, M. Frank, M. van der Heijden, and D. Monaldi (Cambridge University Press, 2025); Blaauboer, Miriam. 2015. 'Hendrika J. van Leeuwen.' Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Natuurkunde, 81(8), 4–6; M. Blaauboer and M.W. van der Heijden,"Jo van Leeuwen, the other physicist behind the Bohr-Van Leeuwen theorem", submitted to Physik Journal.

Presenters

  • Margriet van der Heijden

    Eindhoven University of Technology

Authors

  • Margriet van der Heijden

    Eindhoven University of Technology

  • Miriam Blaauboer

    Delft University of Technology