Ad Stouthamer
{{Short description|Dutch microbiologist (1931–2023)}}
Adriaan Hendrik "Ad" Stouthamer (31 October 1931 – 20 February 2023) was a Dutch microbiologist. He was a professor at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam from the 1960s to 1996. His research was mostly focused on the metabolism of microbiological cultures.
Life and career
Stouthamer was born on 31 October 1931 in Sas van Gent.{{cite web|author= |url=https://home.hccnet.nl/a.stouthamer/kwa_stou/kwa_stou-frm3.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505234016/https://home.hccnet.nl/a.stouthamer/kwa_stou/kwa_stou-frm3.htm |title=Kwartierstaat van Adriaan Hendrik STOUTHAMER |language=Dutch |publisher=home.hccnet.nl |date=10 August 2010 |archive-date=5 May 2016}} He was a keen student at school in Terneuzen. Stouthamer was nine years old when World War II broke out. During the war at one time he had to fall of a dike when a British Supermarine Spitfire flew over. The liberation of the Netherlands had a large impact on him.{{cite web|last1=Speksnijder |first1=Cor |url=https://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/hoogleraar-microbiologie-stuitte-op-een-raadsel-dat-de-wetenschap-nog-steeds-probeert-op-te-lossen~b6909c20/ |url-access=subscription |title=Hoogleraar microbiologie stuitte op een raadsel dat de wetenschap nog steeds probeert op te lossen |language=nl |newspaper=de Volkskrant |date=6 April 2023 |access-date=15 December 2023}}
In 1960 he obtained his doctorate at Utrecht University under Klaas Winkler with a thesis titled: Koolhydraatstofwisseling van de azijnzuurbacteriën. In 1963 he became lecturer at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In 1968 he was appointed as professor and gave his inaugural lecture the same year.{{cite web|last1=Oudega |first1=Bouke |title=In memoriam: Prof. Dr. Adriaan Hendrik Stouthamer |language=nl |url=https://www.knvm.org/activities/6464-news/in-memoriam-prof-dr-adriaan-hendrik-stouthamer |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231001064650/https://www.knvm.org/activities/6464-news/in-memoriam-prof-dr-adriaan-hendrik-stouthamer |publisher=Koninklijke Nederlandse Vereniging voor Microbiologie |archive-date=1 October 2023}}{{cite web|url=http://www.hjmwijers.nl/AAE/StambomenTUe.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200719172518/http://www.hjmwijers.nl/AAE/StambomenTUe.pdf |title=Proeve van een genealogie van hoogleraren in Eindhoven 1956 – 2015 |publisher=hjmwijers.nl |date= |archive-date=19 July 2020}} At the university he founded a large department for microbiology and was also involved in the improvement of education. From 1992 to 1995 he had a special teaching assignment in applied microbiology.{{cite web|url=https://www.hdc.vu.nl/nl/Images/gegevens_vu_2010_tcm215-286946.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190601073141/https://www.hdc.vu.nl/nl/Images/gegevens_vu_2010_tcm215-286946.pdf |title=Gegevens betreffende de Vrije Universiteit |publisher=hdc.vu.nl |date=20 September 2010 |archive-date=1 June 2019}} He retired in autumn 1996 and was succeeded in his chair by Hans Westerhoff.{{cite web|author=Martine Zuidweg |url=https://www.trouw.nl/nieuws/de-confrontatie~bd1ad356/ |title=De confrontatie |language=Dutch |publisher=Trouw |date=11 June 1997 |accessdate=19 July 2020}} At his final lecture Stouthamer stated that 99% of all microorganisms still needed to be described, and that at the rate of that time it would take another 8,300 years.
The research of Stouthamer was mostly focused on the metabolism of microbiological cultures. In his laboratory he experimented on a large scale with self developed cultures. His successor, Westerhoff, stated that Stouthamers biggest contribution to science was the calculation of much energy it would to cost to make a living cell. This calculation came to be used in numerous biochemical processes. It also lead to an issue that as of 2023 has yet to be solved by science, namely that human cells are losing half their energy rather than using it for multiplication.
Stouthamer was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1974.{{cite web |url=https://www.knaw.nl/en/members/members/4832 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620160538/https://www.knaw.nl/en/members/members/4832 |title=Ad Stouthamer |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |date= |archive-date=20 June 2020}} He was also named a knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion. In 1991 he gave the Kluyver lecture at the Royal Netherlands Association for Microbiology.{{cite web|author= |url=https://www.knvm.org/knvm/awards-and-grants/kluyver-lecture |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200625212536/https://www.knvm.org/knvm/awards-and-grants/kluyver-lecture |title=Kluyver Lecture |publisher=Royal Netherlands Association for Microbiology |date= |archive-date=25 June 2020}} Stouthamer served as editor-in-chief of the Antonie van Leeuwenhoek journal. He also served as advisor to Gist-Brocades.
Stouthamer married in 1957 and had two daughters. His wife died in 2017. He was diagnosed with dementia in 2018. He died on 20 February 2023, at the age of 91.
References
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Category:Academic staff of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Category:Dutch microbiologists
Category:Knights of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences