Wim van Saarloos - Biography#
Prof. Wim van Saarloos (born 1955) is a theoretical condensed matter physicist. He studied at the Delft University of Technology. After obtaining his PhD in theoretical physics at Leiden University in 1982, he joined AT&T Bell Laboratories in the USA as a researcher in the Materials Science division. He returned to Leiden University in the Netherlands in 1991. His research as a professor of theoretical physics focuses on statistical physics and condensed matter physics. In 2009 he became the full-time director of the national foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter (FOM) in the Netherlands, then the physics organisation under the umbrella of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research NWO, the national funding agency. From June 2015 till fall 2016, van Saarloos lead the transition of NWO to a new organisational structure. In January 2017 van Saarloos returned to Leiden University as professor of theoretical physics, combining his position there with his work for the KNAW.
While in Leiden, Wim van Saarloos was also the founder and long-time director of the Lorentz Centre (1997-2009), an international workshop centre in the sciences. He also chaired the national committee which in 2007 developed the national ‘sectorplan physics’ which led the government to strengthen physics and chemistry in the Netherlands. Van Saarloos received the Descartes prize and Physica Prize for his work in soft condensed matter physics and pattern formation. He is well-known for his work on front propagation into unstable states, about which he wrote an authoritative review in 2003.
Wim van Saarloos, professor of theoretical physics, is presently the vice president and president-elect of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) for the period September 2016 till June 2018, when he will succeed José van Dijck as president. In addition to his work as vice-president, Wim van Saarloos works at Leiden University as a professor as of January 2017.
During his tenure at Leiden University, Wim van Saarloos (co-)supervised 15 PhD students and 20 postdocs.
