Pride. That feeling prevails for Professor Bert Meijer (68) of TU Eindhoven, when he looks back on all the students he supervised during their PhD. The counter has now passed 100 and that is unique. “But the bad thing about it being so much fun is that it will eventually end.”
As a professor, Meijer is concerned with molecular systems, or simply put: how you can recreate something with those ultra-small particles that remains as close to nature as possible. “Consider heart valves, which are now made by a company in Eindhoven. And with a professor in Tokyo I am working on a material that is completely degradable in seawater. That could one day put an end to all those microparticles in the ocean.”
The passion with which Meijer talks about his profession is the same with which he has been supervising PhD students for over thirty years. Something that is slightly different today than in those early years. “At the time, hardly any research was being done in this area. At that time I was really working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to get everything started. Nowadays our research groups have a great reputation in the world and things are going a lot more smoothly.”
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And the magical limit of 100 PhD students has now been reached. Something that no other professor at TU Eindhoven has achieved before. Meijer himself had known for some time that the special milestone was coming. “When I once won an important award, I received a work of art with it. An etching called The Chemist. I thought: if anyone ever gets a PhD from me, they will get something like that too.”
And so it happened. “It first started with etching, later with screen printing. All made by my wife and numbered. This way I never have to think about what kind of gift I give someone. And it ensures that I don’t spend just a little more money on a student I get along with very well.”
“I won’t drop dead at my desk.”
To be precise, the counter now stands at 102. How many more will be added? “That’s actually not important to me at all. I just think it’s nice to see these young people grow enormously in a few years. But the bad thing about the fact that I find it so fun and beautiful is that it will eventually end. I’ll be seventy next year. I dare not say when exactly I will stop. But I won’t drop dead at my desk.”
Either way, what will stick around is the pride. “Five of my PhD students are now professors in Eindhoven, others are at universities in Switzerland or Madrid, for example, and still others are doing well in the business world.” Laughing: “I may not be the prettiest or best professor at TU Eindhoven, but I am the most successful.”
