Hendrik Casimir

Hendrik Brugt Gerhard Casimir (15 July 1909 – 4 May 2000) was a Dutch physicist who made significant contributions to the field of quantum mechanics and quantum electrodynamics.

He is best known for his work on the Casimir effect, which describes the attractive force between two uncharged plates in a vacuum due to quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field.

Casimir was born 15 July 1909.

He studied theoretical physics at the University of Leiden under Paul Ehrenfest, where he received his Ph.D. in 1931.

His Ph.D. thesis dealt with the quantum mechanics of a rigid spinning body and the group theory of the rotations of molecules.

During that time he also spent some time in Copenhagen with Niels Bohr, where he helped Bohr support the latter's hypothesis of the "gunslinger effect" with mock shoot-outs on campus.

Casimir made many contributions to science during his years in research from 1931 to 1950.

These contributions include: pure mathematics, Lie groups (1931); hyperfine structure, calculation of nuclear quadrupole moments, (1935); low temperature physics, magnetism, thermodynamics of superconductors, paramagnetic relaxation (1935–1942); applications of Onsager's theory of irreversible phenomena (1942–1950).

From 1932 to mid-1933, Casimir worked as an assistant to Wolfgang Pauli at ETH Zurich.

During this period, he worked on the relativistic theory of the electron, in particular, evaluating deviations of the Klein-Nishina equation in the case of bound electrons.

To attack the problem, he invented a number of mathematical tools.

One in particular is still referred to as the “Casimir Trick": in particle interaction calculations, it is a familiar procedure of trace formation and projections using products of Dirac matrices.

Hendrik Casimir is also known for his research on the two-fluid model of superconductors (together with C. J. Gorter ) in 1934.

In 1938, Casimir became a physics professor at Leiden University.

At that time, he was actively studying both heat conduction and electrical conduction, and contributed to the attainment of millikelvin temperatures.

In 1942, during World War II, Casimir moved to the Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium (Philips Physics Laboratory, NatLab) in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

He remained an active scientist and in 1945 wrote a well-known paper on Lars Onsager's principle of microscopic reversibility.

He became a co-director of Philips NatLab in 1946 and a member of the board of directors of the company in 1956.

In 1946 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

While at Philips NatLab, in 1948 Casimir, collaborating with Dirk Polder, predicted the quantum mechanical attraction between conducting plates now known as the Casimir effect, which has important consequences in Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), among others.

He was awarded six honorary doctor degrees by universities outside the Netherlands.

He retired from Philips in 1972.

Although he spent much of his professional life in industry, Hendrik Casimir was one of the great Dutch theoretical physicists.

He helped found the European Physical Society and became its president from 1972 till 1975.

He received numerous awards and prizes, among them the illustrious IRI Medal from the Industrial Research Institute in 1976.

He was a Foreign Associate of the National Academy of Engineering.

In 1979 he was one of the key speakers at CERN's 25th anniversary celebrations.

In 1982, he was awarded the Wilhelm Exner Medal.

He was an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the United States National Academy of Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.