Sybe I. Rispens

Sybe I. Rispens (born April 17, 1969) is a Dutch writer, scientist and cyber security expert.

Education and Work

Rispens was born in Dokkum, Netherlands on April 17, 1969. He received his bachelor's degree in Electronic Engineering from the Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden, before further completing his master's degree at TU-Twente. He received his Master's in the Philosophy of Science from the University of Amsterdam in 1996. In 2005, Rispens was awarded a PhD in the History of Artificial Intelligence from Rijksuniversiteit Groningen with the dissertation, Machine Reason: A History of Clocks, Computers and Consciousness. He is a certified ISO27001 IT-security consultant.

Rispens is a prolific writer and contributor to such publications as the Dutch periodicals Natuurwetenschap en Techniek, Intermediair, and NRC Handelsblad, and the German newspaper, Die Zeit and the Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. He has published several books, including Einstein in Nederland: Een intellectuele biografie in 2006 and co-authored The Communication Revolution: New Perspectives on Photonics‘ in 2010.

In 2007, Rispens founded the ICT and security consulting and software production company knowledgeatwork UG. The organisation specializes in secure, GxP-certified software and developing industry-grade, ISO27000 certified applications. In 2011, he co-founded the former Institut für Wissenschafts- und Technologiekommunikation GmbH (IWTK) in Berlin Germany, a privately held company that focuses on innovation processes in research and technology-centered organizations.

The release of this information inspired a monograph and several formal investigations. Two prominent Dutch universities--Utrecht University and the University of Maastricht—hastily denounced Debye and stripped him of his honors a decision that was later reversed.

The Cornell University department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology's investigation found the information to be insufficient to warrant distancing themselves from Debye's legacy. Another investigation by the NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies concluded that Debye was an “opportunist” who “showed himself to be loyal to the dominant political system, first in the Third Reich and then in the United States, while at the same time keeping the back door open: in the Third Reich by retaining his Dutch nationality, in the United States by attempting to secretly maintain some contacts with Nazi Germany via the Foreign Office.”

Publications

‘Einstein in Nederland. Een intellectuele biografie‘, Ambo: Amsterdam 2006, 242 S. With 16 Images and Index.

‘The Communication Revolution: New Perspectives on Photonics‘, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven: Eindhoven, 2010

‘Machine Reason. Clocks, Computers and Consciousness‘, Groningen, 2005, 252 p.