Hendrik C. van de Hulst

Hendrik Christoffel "Henk" van de Hulst (19 November 1918 – 31 July 2000) was a Dutch astronomer.

In 1944, while a student in Utrecht,<ref>Astronomy Tree profile Hendrik Christoffel van de Hulst</ref> he predicted the existence of the 21 cm hyperfine line of neutral interstellar hydrogen. After this line was discovered, he participated, with Jan Oort and Lex Muller, in the effort to use radio astronomy to map out the neutral hydrogen in our galaxy, which first revealed its spiral structure. Motivated by the scattering in cosmic dust, Van de Hulst studied light scattering by spherical particles and wrote his doctoral thesis on the topic,<ref name="obituary1">Template:Cite journal</ref> subsequently formulating the anomalous diffraction theory.<ref name=vdh>Template:Cite book</ref>

He spent most of his career at Leiden University, retiring in 1984. He published widely in astronomy, and dealt with the solar corona, and interstellar clouds. After 1960 he was a leader in international space research projects.<ref>"Hulst, Hendrik Christoffel van de." in Encyclopædia Britannica (2010)</ref>

In 1956 he became member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Books

• van de Hulst, H.C., Light Scattering by Small Particles, New York, (Wiley, 1957; Dover, 1981), Template:ISBN.<ref name="bib2"/>
• van de Hulst, H.C., Multiple Light Scattering, New York, Academic Press, 1980, Template:ISBN.<ref name="bib2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Honors

Awards

• Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences (1955)<ref name=Draper>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (1955)
• Rumford Medal of the Royal Society (1964)
• Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (1978)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Karl Schwarzschild Medal of the Astronomische Gesellschaft (1995)

Named after him

• Asteroid 2413 van de Hulst
• van de Hulst approximation

Honors

• elected to the American Philosophical Society (1960)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1960)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences (1977)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• List of textbooks in electromagnetism

Bibliography

• Template:Cite web

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