Gerrit van Iterson
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Gerrit van Iterson Jr (Roermond, 19 August 1878 – Wassenaar, 4 January 1972) was a Dutch botanist and professor who developed a mathematical approach to plant growth (phyllotaxis).
Biography
Gerrit van Iterson studied in the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Polytechnic in Delft from 1897 to 1901. He studied chemistry under H. Behrens and microbiology under Martinus Willem Beijerinck. He got a PhD in 1907 with a thesis on phyllotaxis, where he fielded a mathematical theory for leaf growth (Mathematical und Studien über microscopic anatomical Blattstellungen, etc.). He also created a diagram that came to be called the van Iterson Diagram, based on his studies of how spheres can be arranged in a regular cylindrical pattern called a 'rhombic lattice'.{{Cite web |url=http://www.math.smith.edu/phyllo/About/History/VanIterson01.html |title=Archived copy |access-date=2013-09-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927224034/http://www.math.smith.edu/phyllo/About/History/VanIterson01.html |archive-date=2013-09-27 |url-status=dead }}
Smith College's "About Phyllotaxis" page notes that the van Iterson Diagram of plant growth is related to a tiling of the hyperbolic plane.[http://www.math.smith.edu/phyllo/About/History/VanIterson01.html About Phyllotaxis: History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927224034/http://www.math.smith.edu/phyllo/About/History/VanIterson01.html |date=2013-09-27 }}. Smith College. Retr 2013 9 23
The thesis was somewhat forgotten during the twentieth century, but since the recent work of Stéphane Douady and Yves Couder, it has gained attention.
Iterson became professor at Delft. He was also the founder of the Cultuurtuin Technical Crops, today known as the TU Delft Hortus Botanicus. In 1918 he became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.{{cite web |url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00001077 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190619153124/https://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00001077 |title=G. van Iterson (1878 - 1972) |publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |date= |archive-date=19 June 2019}} He retired in 1948.
See also
Bibliography
- A.D.J. Meeuse, [http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/levensberichten/PE00001077.pdf Life Message G. of Iterson] 1972, Amsterdam, pp . 122-126
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20071112204025/http://tnw.tudelft.nl/live/pagina.jsp?id=f8dc8ef7-8884-4176-b150-3a748027dad5&lang=nl Page about Gerrit van Iterson on the website of TU Delft]
- [https://books.google.com/books?id=ICBVAAAAMAAJ Mathematische und mikroskopisch-anatomische Studien über Blattstellungen. . . ], 1907, Google eBook edition of one of van Iterson's works
References
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Category:Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology
Category:20th-century Dutch botanists
Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences