H. C. Hamaker

Who was H. C. Hamaker?

Hugo Christiaan Hamaker was a Dutch scientist, who was responsible for the Hamaker theory which explains the van der Waals forces between objects larger than molecules. His 1937 paper was heavily cited.

He completed his doctorate at the Universiteit Utrecht in 1934. His dissertation was labelled: Reflectivity and Emissivity of Tungsten; with a Description of a New Method to Determine the Total Reflectivity of Any Surface in a Simple and Accurate Way. His adviser was Leonard Ornstein. From 1934 to 1967 he was employed in the Physical Laboratory of Philips in Eindhoven, and from 1960 to 1972 he was Professor at the Eindhoven University of Technology.