Honorary members and members of merit
Honorary members and members of merit

Honorary members

Picture J.C. Terlouw

prof.dr. J.C. Terlouw

Jan Terlouw is a famous Dutch politician and childrens book writer. He has been minister of economic affairs and he has won the "gouden griffel" twice. Still he sees physics as the "mother of all science".

Terlouw was member of the board of A-E in 1951. In this board he was chairman, and he regrets never being a chairman of the board of S2.

 

 

prof.dr. G. 't Hooft

Gerard 't Hooft is professor in theoretical physics at Utrecht University. Among the numerous scientific awards the Nobel prize in physics stands out.

't Hooft has been chairman of S2 in 1969 and he was active in the fusion, marking the beginning of A-Eskwadraat. His initial doubts about a fusion were quickly exchanged for great enthousiasm. He also was the founder of the predecessor of the "Vakidioot", called the "WisFysVaria".
Picture G. 't Hooft

 

 

 

 

In memoriam

 

 

Picture J.J. Duistermaat

prof.dr. J.J. Duistermaat

Hans Duistermaat was the youngest honorary member since the 9th of September 2008. He was professor of mathematics since 1974 at Utrecht University. He has over 50 publications in mathematics, is frequently cited and has won numerous awards.

Next to his fenomal research accomplishments he was an enthousiastic teacher. Numerous generations of A-Eskwadraat members have enjoyed his courses greatly. Duistermaat also invested many hours in A-Eskwadraat activities, making them a great succes!

To our great sadness prof. dr. J.J. Duistermaat passed away on March 19th 2010.

Members of Merit

The following people are awarded the title Member of Merit for their great accomplishments for the association:

Bas van Schaik
From the very beginning of his first year Bas has been an active member, starting as a member of the FirstYearsCommittee 2003-2004. As the Books Officer he was a member of the 2005-2006 board, but in the years thereafter it became especially apparent how indispensible Bas really was to the Association. Amongst other things he was a big proponent for a study trip to a more distant destination, after which a group of 40 A-Eskwadraat members travelled all the way to China. In order to finance such a (expensive) trip a foundation, the A-Eskwadraat on Tour Foundation, was founded in part thanks to him. Another one of his projects is the conjecture fund, which has played a significant role in the budget and accounting of A-Eskwadraat. During the budgetary crisis of 2008-2009 Bas was one of the members who felt a great sense of responsibility for helping the board complete the account. He has played a large role in employing the administration system GnuCash. Aside from such structural contributions, Bas also helped boards throughout the years by offering advice.

Bas (or 'Sjeik' for those in the know) was a prominent member of the WebCie. Not only was he a contributer to BookWeb (the administration program for the sale of books, which is rumoured to have been the subject of an aquisition attempt of Bruna), but he as dedicated a lot of his time to making overall improvements to the functionality of the website before he left the WebCie in 2011.

Aside from serious affairs, Bas has always been the person to organise more lighthearted activities. For example, during the 2008 gala he and a group of friends arrived in a horse and carriage, and he and Steven Woudenberg led the Lady's dispute on a merry chase letting them search for their identities by regularly sending the poems. At one point he bought a Bunny-outfit for a certain rose supermentor.

All-in-all  Bas has contributed to the association in countless ways throughout the years, for which he was awarded the title 'member of merit' on September 12th 2013.

Jeroen Schot
The first committee in which Jeroen participated was the VakIdioot in 2003, a committee to which he contributed in countless ways. Shortly thereafter he became Internal Affairs Officer in the board of 2004-2005, but once again his true dedication became apparent in the years following his term as a member of the board. Ever since his term he was known as a layed-back guy with a great sense of humour. Perhaps a little quiet, but when he did speak he was always very thoughtfull. His incredible skill for linguïstic hunour has made him the brains behind many a almanak-, introduction-, and receptiontheme.

In the years after his board membership he never failed to support a board member in need. Anything from getting them a coke, giving advice on the dynamics within the board, cleaning A-Eskwadraats livingroom, or solving a problem within a committee. Eventhough the association has many members with very strong opinions, Jeroens opinion was always one that carried a lot of weight with the board. A brief inquiry into Jeroens contributions to boards following his term resulted in countless examples. "It is difficult to imagine how A-Eskwadraat would be without Jeroen Schot, but I don't thing there will every be anyone like him again. Making him a member of merit is the least we can do." to cite one former board member.

In addition to his many contributions to different boards, Jeroen was also somone who had a lot of knowledge about the systems of A-Eskwadraat. His knowledge of Tex and the computers was enormous. For example, he was able to remotely access the logfiles of the mailserver and was thereby able to follow a general assembly live by reading the notes taken by the secretary via internet. Jeroen (or 'Scotty' for those in the know) not only had a considerable technical knowledge, he was also prepared to teach others and spent considerable amounts of time making Linux and Tex understandable for amateurs. He was always available for support when a technical problem arose.

In short, Jeroen has supported many boards both on a personal and technical level with an seemingly endless amount of patience and friendliness. His knowledge and dedication have made the life of many board considerably easier. With an overwelming consensus he has been given the title 'member of merit' by the general assembly of September 12th 2013. It was the least we could do.

Thijs Kinkhorst
Although he was never part of the board, Thijs Kinkhorst has been extraordinarily active member within our association. Apart from a large number of committees, among which seven years of Web committee (in which he performed a lot work on the book administration system), he in cooperation with others was responsible for getting the international programming contest NWERC to Utrecht in 2007 and 2008. He was also part of the organizing committees for these events, which spoke to the imagination, Thijs played a central role. Amongst others because of these merits the general assembly decided on May 19th, 2009 to support the suggestion of "Spreekt Voor Zich", to make Thijs a member of merit. This makes Thijs the only member of merit to get a second extraordinary mention together with commemorative medal for his work. The motto on his commemorative medal is "De beste (be)stuur(s)lui staan aan wal."
 
Jacob Kleerekoper
On May 19th, 2009 Jacob Kleerekoper was made a member of merit, following the suggestion of the board "Spreekt voor Zich:. At the moment he had just left his last committee after almost ten (!) years of being an active member. For more than eight years he was part op Sysop and the Web committee, keeping the computers and website in top shape and adding ever more functionality. Apart from this he has been part many committees and he was a member of the board in 2001-2002. This very extraordinary active member got as motto on his commemorative medal "Het (wijs)neusje van de zalm".
During the general assembly on September 10th, 2009 Jacob received his commemorative member.
 
Frank van Lankvelt
On the 13th of december 2005, 6 years after his graduation, Frank van Lankvelt was appointed Member of Merit of A-Eskwadraat. The 60th board wanted to thank him for his great investment in the association. Especially grateful we are for the role he played in the founding of the "Who's Who", the member database of A-Eskwadraat. Until today the system is used to storage and process information about members, comittees, societies and groups.
Frank recieved his Member of Merit medal during the opening night of the 7th lustrum, the 6th of februari 2007. The medal caried the inscription "Who's frnk", refering to his nickname "frnk"
 
Roelof Ruules
Roelof Ruules was appointed to be Member of Merit during the general assembly of A-Eskwadraat on the 21th of februari 1997. Frank van Lankvelt was the founder of the idea appointing Roelof the title Member of Merit, not knowing he would receive the same honor in 2005.
Roelof Ruules (born 28th of may 1964) stated his studies in physics in 1986 at the Utrecht University. During his studies, and in the period following these he organised many of the A-Eskwadraat activities, e.g. the introduction, symposium, founding of the BBCie, and he was member of the board 1989-1990.
Liesbeth Scheffer
Liesbeth Scheffer was appointed Member of Merit during the general assembly of 14 june 1995.
 
Erik Heijne
Erik Heijne was appointed Member of Merit during the general assembly of 14 june 1995.
 
Reinier Balkema
Reinier Balkema was the first member of merit of A-Eskwadraat. He was appointed during the general assembly of the 12th of June 1992. The chairwoman at that time, Saskia Maassen, described Reinier as " A member you can't find in 10 years". He was never a member of the board, but he organised and participated in more activities then many members of the board.
Reinier, born on the 17th of october 1965, stated his studies in Mathematics in 1985. He switched to a study in Physics and Astronomy in 1986, which he finished in 1993.