George van den Bergh

Who was George van den Bergh?

George van den Bergh was a Dutch law professor and amateur astronomer.

Van den Bergh was the son of Samuel van den Bergh, one of the founders of Unilever. His brother Sidney James and his nephew Maarten would follow his father in business life, while George pursued an academic career. He was a lawyer in Amsterdam, 1915-1936. From 1925-33 he was a member of the Dutch parliament. He was author of Astronomy for the millions and The universe in space and time, which were translated into English in 1937. During the 1950s he studied the longer eclipse cycles, allowing him to predict solar and lunar eclipses over a long time interval. This was published in 1955 as Periodicity and Variation of Solar Eclipses. In 1958 he developed a compressed form of typesetting called Hoofdletters, published as Hoofdletters, Tweeling- en Meerlingdruk.

The crater Van den Bergh on the Moon is named after him.