Volkert Simon Maarten van der Willigen

Volkert Simon Maarten van der Willigen (9 May 1822 – 19 February 1878), sometimes referred to as Volcardus Simon Martinus van der Willigen, was a Dutch mathematician, physicist and professor.

Life Volkert was born in Rockanje, son of the minister Johannes van der Willigen (1777–1857) and his wife Gerarde Maria Elsabé Bodde (1795–1865). He was the nephew of the Dutch patriot and writer Adriaan van der Willigen.

He studied at the Hoogeschool Leiden (the current Leiden University) and promoted in 1847 with his dissertation De aberratione lucis (on the aberrations of the light). After graduating he became teacher at the Latin school in Amsterdam. In 1848 he was appointed to professor in the mathematics and physics and philosophy at Athenaeum Illustre in Deventer. He accepted his appointment with the lauratio Over natuur- en sterrekundig onderzoek (On physical and astronomical research). In 1857 he became a member of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (Netherlands Royal Academy of Sciences).

When the Athenaeum Illustre of Deventer was abolished in 1864, he was appointed conservator of the Physical Cabinet of the Teylers Museum in Haarlem where Jacob Gijsbertus Samuël van Breda had resigned his post nine months earlier. Contrary to Van Breda however, Van der Willigen refused to accept the responsibility for the Paleontological-Mineralogical cabinet alongside his duties for the Physical cabinet, and that position was later filled by Tiberius Cornelis Winkler. Thus free to devote himself to the instrument collection and physics experiments, in the years that he spent at Teylers, Van der Willigen published 51 papers. Slingerproeven te Deventer (Pendulum experiments in Deventer); 1852 Verzameling kleine geschriften (Collection of small writings); 1852 Bepaling der poolshoogte voor Deventer (Determination of the pile height for Deventer); 1852 Proeve betreffende den galvanschen lichtboog (Experiment regarding the galvanic arc); 1854 Nog iets over electrische ringen (Another something about electrical rings); 1863 De coefficienten van breking van mengsels van zwavelzuur en water (The coefficients of refraction of mixtures of sulfuric acid and water); 1864 Over de verschijnselen van gekleurde polarisatie voor eenassige kristallen convergent licht (On the phenomena of colored polarization of single axis crystals converging light); 1873 Over de onhoudbaarheid der stelling dat de betrekking der lichtstralen wordt gewijzigd door de beweging van licht-bron en prisma (On the untenability of the proposition that the relation of light beams is changed by the movement of light source and prism); 1873 Mémoire sur la détermination des longueurs d'onde du spectre solaire (French); 1875 Over het electrisch spectrum (on the electric spectrum); unknown year Over eene optische illusie, waarbij het relief van het beschouwde voorwerp wordt omgekeerd (On an optical illusion, where the relief of the considered object is reversed); unknown year