chemistry

Simon Olivier

Simon Olivier is a chemistry 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 Simon Olivier rather than just read about it. In short: Simon Cornelis Johannes Olivier (Amsterdam, June 13, 1879 – Wageningen, August 9, 1961) was a Dutch chemist. He was professor at the Wageningen Agricultural College (predecessor of what is currently Wageningen University) from 1919 to 1949.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Simon Cornelis Johannes Olivier (Amsterdam, June 13, 1879 – Wageningen, August 9, 1961) was a Dutch chemist. He was professor at the Wageningen Agricultural College (predecessor of what is currently Wageningen University) from 1919 to 1949. During the Second World War he was imprisoned for almost two years for his resistance against the German occupier.

Career Olivier studied chemistry at the Delft University of Technology. He received his doctorate in 1913 cum laude (“with high distinction”) as a doctor of technical science for his study of “Velocity measurements in the reaction of Friedel and Crafts” [translated from Dutch]. He subsequently worked as an assistant at the National Agricultural Research Station in Groningen, and as a physics and chemistry teacher at the HBS in Nijmegen. Subsequently, he got a job at the Wageningen Agricultural College. In 1918 he was appointed professor of Organic Chemistry, the first professor of the current Laboratory of Organic Chemistry. Olivier's publications also attracted attention abroad, especially in the field of organic chemistry.

WWII Olivier was concerned about Nazism well before the German invasion of the Netherlands. Already in 1936 he became a member of the Committee of Vigilance of Anti-National Socialist Intellectuals. He also advocated admission of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. Olivier was one of the few employees of the Wageningen Agricultural College who objected when they were asked to hand in an Aryan declaration in 1940. According to him, the statement was "the introduction of discrimination against Jews in the Netherlands". When he was informed that this could give him terrorist status, he crossed out the form and completed a new questionnaire. Nevertheless, Olivier continued to speak out against National Socialist ideas. After members of the National Socialist Movement (in Dutch: NSB) –a Dutch fascist movement that affiliated with the Nazis– had plastered Wageningen on July 18, 1941 with notes from the German V-action (the taking over of 'V=Victory' by the Germans “because Germany is winning on all fronts”) and especially the main building of the Wageningen Agricultural College, Olivier ordered a worker to remove everything. A few days later he was taken into custody. After 11 months in prison in Amersfoort, where, as he put it, “he became more closely acquainted with the methods the Germans use to bring opponents to reason”, he was dismissed from his academic position and expelled from Wageningen. He was initially locked up in the infamous Oranjehotel in Scheveningen, and subsequently imprisoned in various German concentration camps until 1943, when he was released due to his poor health. However, Olivier was banned from publishing and was no longer allowed to appear in university cities.

Post WWII After the war, Olivier was appointed Rector Magnificus of the Wageningen Agricultural College for the year 1945-1946. He had previously been rector in Wageningen in the academic year 1923-1924. Olivier retired in 1949.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Simon Olivier

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

In research: Simon Olivier appears in chemistry 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 Simon Olivier 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: Simon Olivier is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1879 births, 1961 deaths, Amersfoort concentration camp survivors, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Simon Olivier 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 Simon Olivier in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Simon Olivier in simple terms?

Why does Simon Olivier matter?

Because it connects several chemistry 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 Simon Olivier?

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 Simon Olivier.