Delft, in the name of her Majesty the Queen
Delft is a middle-sized, typical Dutch city, which shows that it dates back to the Middle Ages. It is also the town of the House of Orange. Prince William I started the 80-year war of independence from here. He also was assassinated here and buried in the ‘New Church’, which actually dates from the 14th century. After him, all members of the Royal House have been buried here as well. For me however, Delft is the town of the University of Technology, THE UNIVERSITY. This is because its contributions to society are based on a combination of technical know-how, science and a mental attitude -the Delft Engineering Mindset. ‘University democracy’ which came into existence in the Netherlands in the seventies of last century could not jeopardize it and the Delft Mindset is very much alive today. I am really proud to represent its traditions. The sociology of the seventies did a lot of other damage to universities in the Netherlands and Delft especially has been slow in recovering from it. Even today there is denial that science is basically a meritocracy. Whether you like it or not, that is the way is works. It has to be accepted, the penalty for not doing so is mediocrity. At Philips Consumer Electronics, I barely survived the drastic and brutal restructuring of the early nineties (see Highlights of the year, 1993). The company with this family flavor and its often inconsistent management almost went broke in the early nineties. This unleashed forces under which some people were simply pulverized or crushed. Almost everybody working for the company got at least a few or more bruises, including me. It was a necessary bloodshed. Delft was the avenue to a new future. I grasped the opportunity to become a part-time professor in Applied Ecodesign and I got appointed on December 1, 2005. In the old days -when a professorship was still an office -you were appointed by the Queen with the order to be ‘active in you professional area’. Not anymore. Things are now supposed to be more rational, even at a university. Not for me. I experienced my professorship as highly emotional. At elementary school we learned a song: ‘Het is plicht dat iedere jongen voor de onafhankelijkheid van zijn geliefde vaderland zijn beste krachten wijdt’ (‘It is the duty of every man/boy for the independence of his beloved country that he dedicates the best of his abilities for that’). Although this sounds weird, it represents my emotion in Delft.
国际会议
The 4th International Conference on Waste Management and Technology(第四届固体废物管理与技术国际会议)
北京
英文
208
2009-11-28（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）