Adriaan van der Woude

Adriaan van der Woude (3 June 1930 in Westerbroek – 20 August 2017) was a Dutch nuclear physicist, known as a leading expert on giant resonances.

Education and career He matriculated in 1948 at the University of Groningen, where he graduated in 1954 with s M.Sc. equivalent and in 1960 with a Ph.D. Van der Woude worked from 1960 to 1963 in Brinkmann's group at the University of Groningen's Physics Laboratory. From 1963 to 1965 he was on a leave of absence from the University of Groningen and did research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on nuclear and atomic physics. He was employed from 1965 to August 1967 at the University of Groningen, from 1967 to 1972 as a staff member at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and from 1972 as a senior scientist at the University of Groningen's newly established Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut (KVI Groningen); The AGOR cyclotron facility is useful for "radio-biology research and radiation hardness testing of electronics and materials."

Adriaan was appointed professor at the University of Groningen in 1980 and was associate director of KVI for several years. In that period, he played a key role in defining the KVI's future plans. He facilitated the collaboration with IPN-Orsay to build the superconducting AGOR-cyclotron, which has been operational since 1996. During the construction period, he led the project, together with Sydney Galès, and spent a sabbatical year in Orsay for that purpose. Later he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau.

On the occasion of his retirement in 1995 the international “Giant Resonances” Conference was held in Groningen in his honor.

Selected publications