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Drs. A.F.B. Dijkstra (Arjen)

Background

Arjen Dijkstra (1979) is a PhD student at the University of Twente, at the STePS department. He holds a BA in history from the Noordelijke Hogeschool Leeuwarden and a MA (cum laude) in history from the University of Groningen (Drs.). His Masters thesis deals with the social and cultural backgrounds of the way mathematics was practiced at the end of the seventeenth century in Dutch Republic, specifically in the province Friesland. It explores these backgrounds through analyzing a polemic between a professor in mathematics of the university of Franeker and a shipper of the city of Harlingen about a longitude project of the latter.

Arjen has been a high school teacher for seven years, during which he taught history, geography, social sciences, physics and chemistry.

Research

Together with Tim Nicolaije, Arjen participates in the NWO-funded project ‘The Uses of Mathematics in the Dutch Republic’. Arjen again focuses on the social and cultural backgrounds of mathematics in the province Friesland. He focuses his research on the way mathematics was practiced in the scholarly culture (University of Franeker), the court culture (The Nassau court in Leeuwarden) and in the Frisian cities (the harbor of Harlingen) of 17^th century. In this research he tries to go beyond what he explored in his Masters thesis and bring to light the way mathematics was valued in the early modern period.

The project is supervised by Dr. Ir. Fokko Jan Dijksterhuis.

Teaching

History Minor: The rise of Modernity (0910_173109)

Geschiedenis van de natuurwetenschappen van Newton tot nu (0910_411301)

Networks

Member of the Huizinga Research Institute and Graduate School of Cultural History (http://cf.hum.uva.nl/~huizinga/).

Other activities

In 2009 Arjen was awarded the biannual thesis price of the Fryske Akademy for his masters thesis of 2007.

http://www.mb.utwente.nl/steps/news/bestanden/scriptieprijs%20Arjen.doc/

In November 2009 together with Tim Nicolaije and Jantien Dopper of Utrecht University Arjen co-organized The Novembertagung 2009, a conference on the history of mathematics for young researchers. Participants included researchers from Denmark, Canada and the UK.

In September 2009 Arjen gave a paper, together with Wiebke Wemheuer, at the conference held to commemorate the foundation of the Hohe Schule in Herborn (Germany). They were there at the invitation of the city of Herborn.

2007- present: Arjen has presented papers and lectures at several national and international conferences. These include conferences organized by the British Society for the History of Science and a paper at the third Woudschoten-conference on the history of science in the Low Countries. He has also been invited to give lectures at Museum Martena in Franeker, the museum where the scarce remnants of University of Franeker are on display.

Publications

Masters thesis:

Arjen Dijkstra, ‘Het vinden van oost en west in het Friesland van de zeventiende eeuw. De polemiek tussen Lieuwe Willemsz. Graaf (1652-1704) en Benhardus Fullenius Jr. (1640-1707).’ (‘The search for east and west in seventeenth century Friesland. The polemic between Lieuwe Willemsz Graaf and Bernhardus Fullenius Jr.’). Masters thesis 2007.

Articles:

In Dutch:

‘De opleiding van Friese edelen. Vier Vegelins van Claerbergen aan de Franeker universiteit’, in: Mededelingen van de stichting Jacob Campo Weyerman, vol. 32 (2009), no. 2, pp. 101-111.

‘Drie keer de zeventiende-eeuwse Scheepsbouw van Nicolaes Witsen’ in: Arjen Dijkstra e.a., Cultural transfer. Rusland en Europa vanaf 1650 (Amsterdam 2009), pp.5-14.

‘Het stokske van Wopkens. Een portret van de Leeuwarder patriot Wopke Wopkens (1730 - 1807)’ in: Leeuwarder historische reeks, vol. VIII, (Leeuwarden 2005) 135-151.

In Frisian:

‘Pamflettestriid’, in: De Moanne. Algemien-kultureel opinyblêd, vol. 8 (2009), no. 9, pp. 12-15.

Reviews:

‘Review: Tulipmania. Money, Honor, and Knowledge in the Dutch Golden Age’, in: Early Science and Medicine, vol. 14 (2009), no. 4, pp. 579-581.