astronomy

Huib Bakker

Huib Bakker 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 Huib Bakker rather than just read about it. In short: Huib Johan Bakker (born 2 March 1965) is a Dutch physicist working in the field of ultrafast spectroscopy. He has been president of research institute AMOLF since 1 February 2016.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Huib Johan Bakker (born 2 March 1965) is a Dutch physicist working in the field of ultrafast spectroscopy. He has been president of research institute AMOLF since 1 February 2016.

Career Bakker was born on 2 March 1965 in Haarlem. He studied physical chemistry at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and obtained his master's degree in 1987. He subsequently became a PhD student under Ad Lagendijk at the AMOLF research institute. Bakker received his doctorate cum laude in 1991 with a thesis titled:"Time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy with picosecond infrared pulses". Between 1991 and 1994 he was a scientific assistant at the Institute of Semiconductor Technologies of RWTH Aachen University in Germany. In 1995 Bakker returned to the Netherlands to become scientific group leader at AMOLF. Six years later he started as professor of Ultrafast Spectroscopy of Molecules in the Condensed Phase at the University of Amsterdam. At AMOLF Bakker is group leader of research on ultrafast spectroscopy. In 2003 he became head of the department of molecular nanophysics. In his research at AMOLF Bakker has been founder of a technique which uses special non-linear spectroscopics, which helps researchers in determining the molecular mobility and structure of water in complex systems. Bakker became adjunct director of AMOLF on 1 September 2015. On 1 February 2016 he succeeded Vinod Subramaniam as director, who became rector-magnificus of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

Awards and honors In 2005 Bakker received the gold medal of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society. Bakker was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015. The academy called him "a renowned expert on the molecular properties of water and ice".

References

External links Profile on AMOLF website Profile on University of Amsterdam website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Huib Bakker

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Huib Bakker 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 Huib Bakker 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 Huib Bakker 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 Huib Bakker

In research: Huib Bakker 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 Huib Bakker 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: Huib Bakker is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1965 births, 21st-century Dutch physicists, Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Huib Bakker 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 Huib Bakker in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Huib Bakker 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 Huib Bakker out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Huib Bakker in simple terms?

Huib Johan Bakker (born 2 March 1965) is a Dutch physicist working in the field of ultrafast spectroscopy. He has been president of research institute AMOLF since 1 February 2016.

Why does Huib Bakker 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 Huib Bakker?

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 Huib Bakker.