astronomy

Hendrik C. van de Hulst

Hendrik C. van de Hulst is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Hendrik C. van de Hulst rather than just read about it. In short: Hendrik Christoffel "Henk" van de Hulst (19 November 1918 – 31 July 2000) was a Dutch astronomer. In 1944, while a student in Utrecht, he predicted the existence of the 21 cm hyperfine line of neutral interstellar hydrogen.

Key takeaways

Hendrik C. van de Hulst belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Hendrik C. van de Hulst to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Hendrik C. van de Hulst from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Hendrik Christoffel "Henk" van de Hulst (19 November 1918 – 31 July 2000) was a Dutch astronomer. In 1944, while a student in Utrecht, he predicted the existence of the 21 cm hyperfine line of neutral interstellar hydrogen. After this line was discovered, he participated, with Jan Oort and Lex Muller, in the effort to use radio astronomy to map out the neutral hydrogen in our galaxy, which first revealed its spiral structure. Motivated by the scattering in cosmic dust, Van de Hulst studied light scattering by spherical particles and wrote his doctoral thesis on the topic, subsequently formulating the anomalous diffraction theory. He spent most of his career at Leiden University, retiring in 1984. He published widely in astronomy, and dealt with the solar corona, and interstellar clouds. After 1960 he was a leader in international space research projects. In 1956 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Books van de Hulst, H.C., Light Scattering by Small Particles, New York, (Wiley, 1957; Dover, 1981), ISBN 0-486-64228-3. van de Hulst, H.C., Multiple Light Scattering, New York, Academic Press, 1980, ISBN 978-0-12-710701-1.

Honors Awards

Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1955) Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1955) Rumford Medal of the Royal Society (1964) Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1978) Karl Schwarzschild Medal of the Astronomische Gesellschaft (1995) Named after him

Asteroid 2413 van de Hulst van de Hulst approximation

Honors elected to the American Philosophical Society (1960) elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1960) elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences (1977)

See also List of textbooks in electromagnetism

References

Bibliography Tenn, Joe. "Hendrik Christoffel van de Hulst". Sonoma State University. Retrieved 5 January 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Hendrik C. van de Hulst

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Hendrik C. van de Hulst claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Hendrik C. van de Hulst before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Hendrik C. van de Hulst ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Hendrik C. van de Hulst

In research: Hendrik C. van de Hulst appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Hendrik C. van de Hulst in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Hendrik C. van de Hulst is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1918 births, 2000 deaths, 20th-century Dutch astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Hendrik C. van de Hulst outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Hendrik C. van de Hulst in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Hendrik C. van de Hulst means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Hendrik C. van de Hulst out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Hendrik C. van de Hulst in simple terms?

Why does Hendrik C. van de Hulst matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Hendrik C. van de Hulst?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Hendrik C. van de Hulst.