physics

Marjolein Dijkstra

Marjolein Dijkstra is a physics 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 Marjolein Dijkstra rather than just read about it. In short: Marjolein Dijkstra (born 1967) is a Dutch condensed matter physicist. She works as a professor at the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science at Utrecht University, in the Soft Condensed Matter group.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Marjolein Dijkstra (born 1967) is a Dutch condensed matter physicist. She works as a professor at the Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science at Utrecht University, in the Soft Condensed Matter group.

Education and career Dijkstra was born on 26 September 1967 in The Hague. She earned two master's degrees, one in molecular sciences in 1990 from Wageningen University under the supervision of Yehudi K. Levine and Tjeerd Schaafsma, and another in experimental physics in 1991 from Utrecht University under the supervision of Daan Frenkel. She completed her PhD in 1994, with Frenkel as her doctoral advisor. Her dissertation was The effect of entropy on the structure and stability of complex fluids. After postdoctoral research at the University of Oxford with Paul Madden and Jean-Pierre Hansen, at the Shell Research and Technology Centre Amsterdam, and at Bristol University with Michael P. Allen and Robert Evans, she joined Utrecht University in 1999. She has been a full professor there since 2007, and was named director of the Debye Institute in 2015. In spring 2020 Marjolein Dijkstra received an ERC Advanced Grant research funding for her project Rational Design of Soft Hierarchical Materials with Responsive Functionalities: Machine learning Soft Matter to create Soft Machines.. Dijkstra was awarded the 2025 Physica Prize, given to physicists working in the Netherlands by the Dutch Physical Society.

Recognition Dijkstra won the Minerva Prize of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research in 2000. This prize is given every two years for the best publication by a female physicist; Dijkstra won it for her work with René van Roij and Robert Evans on "Phase diagram of highly asymmetric binary hard-sphere mixtures". Dijkstra was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2020.

References

External links Home page Marjolein Dijkstra publications indexed by Google Scholar

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marjolein Dijkstra

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marjolein Dijkstra claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, 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 Marjolein Dijkstra 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 Marjolein Dijkstra 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 Marjolein Dijkstra

In research: Marjolein Dijkstra appears in physics 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 Marjolein Dijkstra 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: Marjolein Dijkstra is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1967 births, 21st-century Dutch physicists, Academic staff of Utrecht University, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marjolein Dijkstra 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Marjolein Dijkstra” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Marjolein Dijkstra in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Marjolein Dijkstra in simple terms?

Why does Marjolein Dijkstra matter?

Because it connects several physics 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 Marjolein Dijkstra?

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 Marjolein Dijkstra.