Jean van Bladel

Jean G. van Bladel (July 24, 1922 – January 24, 2018) was a Belgian electrical engineer, physicist and academician, who was a Professor Emeritus at Ghent University. He was best known for his contributions to electromagnetics and antenna theory.

Biography Jean van Bladel was born on July 24, 1922, in Antwerp, Belgium to a French-speaking family. His father was a barrister. In 1939, he was accepted to the Belgian Royal Military Academy. In the same year and at the beginnings of World War II, he and his military cohort was forced to flee to southern France during the invasion of Belgium; during his return, he became a prisoner of war as his train was intercepted by German forces. Returning to Belgium later in 1940, he resumed his engineering studies at Université libre de Bruxelles. Soon, he had to transfer to University of Liège when the rector of the university refused to collaborate with German occupiers, after which the university was closed.