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Op 22 mei 2019 overleed in Almelo op 85-jarige leeftijd Pieter Cornelis Baayen, emeritus hoogleraar wiskunde aan de Vrije Universiteit en voormalig wetenschappelijk directeur van het Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica. Hij was in de jaren zeventig en tachtig een van de koersbepalende Nederlandse wiskundigen. Cor Baayen was erelid van het Koninklijk Wiskundig Genootschap. Zijn oud-collega’s / promovendi Gerard Alberts, Teun Koetsier, Jan van Mill en Lex Schrijver herdenken hem.

In seemed that in the postwar years initiatives to construct computers were bound to be absorbed by the existing industry. And indeed Electrologica, the firm emerging from the mathematics research institute Mathematical Center, did find its end as Philips-Electrologica. But this was not because either Philips or Electrologica would have wanted this conclusion. In fact, there were not just this one, but a plethora of initiatives to build computers and several industrial enterprises did purchase an automatic calculating machine. But there was no easy fit. Most ideas brought to the fore with sparkling enthousiasm never made it to the stage of production, not even those which had resulted in a prototype computing machine. The exception was the ZEBRA computer, designed by Willem van der Poel of PTT research and finally taken into production by Stantec in Newport (Wales) –finally after frustrating refusal by PTT itself, by Philips and by Zuse KG. Philips also declined to join in a venture by Mathematical Center and Nillmy life insurance cy: Electrologica. Philips Industries did not evade the participation in a Dutch computer industry out ignorance. Both at the level of research and at the level of business policy and strategy, Philips new what was going on. No single entity in Dutch society was better informed that the board of Philips Industries. And it acted rationally according to all this knowledge. It played on a global level and would have its agreements with partners on the same level. In this case IBM was the partner and the agreement was that IBM purchase its components from Philips in exchange for Philips’s abstinence in the market of computer manufacturing. But even after that agreement had expired Philips was hardly interested in joining in a ‘national’ industry. If it did finally purchase the remnants of Electrologica, it did so to appropriate the expertise accumulated there. Finally, not only a view of Philips’own rationality in business strategies but also a view on the context of the Cold War with its characteristic relations between the hegemone US and the European states, helps to better understand the fate of Electrologica and the logic of it ending in Philips-Electrologica.

De geschiedenis van computers in Nederland begint in 1952 met de introductie van de ARRA, de Automatische Relais Rekenmachine Amsterdam. De computer was in de begin jaren nog geen onderdeel van de maatschappij. Burgers bezaten geen computers en er waren slechts een paar computers bij instanties en bedrijven. Toch had de introductie van de computer een grote impact op de maatschappij. Beschreven worden de bedrijven die pionierden met de computers en welke bedoelingen ze er mee hadden. De digitale computers worden vergeleken met de in die tijd veel gangbaardere analoge rekenmachines. Steeds meer werd aan de computer overgelaten - een tendens die nog steeds doorgaat. In het laatste hoofdstuk aandacht voor de invloed van de computer op de samenleving. Een vlot geschreven boekje met literatuurverwijzingen en een uitgebreide index. Met zwart-witillustraties.

Examining the diffusion and domestication of computer technologies in Dutch households and schools during the 1980s and 1990s, this chapter shows that the process was not a simple story of adoption of American models. Instead, many Dutch actors adapted computer technologies to their own local needs, habits, and cultural settings. For one, actors developed different views about the relations between Dutch users and North American suppliers. This chapter identifies different types of producer-user relations and the varying ways in which Dutch users and North American suppliers viewed their relationships. Dutch computer hobbyist considered themselves equal partners with their trans atlantic counterparts and the coproducers of the computer technologies. This relationship involved production of technologies for local markets and lowering of corporate boundaries by a “computer Esperanto” to facilitate software exchange. By contrast, governmental computer literacy programs tried to de-link from US producers. When introducing computers in schools, policies favored national computer industries. Local practices of cracking and copying of software, showed how computer users found themselves at safe distance from legal procedures by U.S. Commercial companies against their “illegal” copying. In computer users’ view, their practice did not harm the wealthy foreign manufactures across theAtlantic. The chapter shows how in these interactions views of American producers implicitly and explicitly played a role.

Building up informatica, as computer science came to be called in The Netherlands, has been an international affair. Aad van Wijngaarden, 1916 - 1987, founding father of Dutch computer science was responsible for forging international collaboration and helping to make informatics an international endeavour. His influence reached from cooperative efforts in building computers in the 1940s to Algol68, the epitome of his style of computing. CWI commemorates his 100th birthday this year.

This paper investigates the effects of information feedback mechanisms on electricity and heating usage at a student hall of residence in London. In a randomised control trial, we formulate different treatments such as feedback information and norms, as well as prize competition among subjects. We show that information and norms lead to a sharp – more than 20% - reduction in overall energy consumption. Because participants do not pay for their energy consumption this response cannot be driven by cost saving incentives. Interestingly, when combining feedback and norms with a prize competition for achieving low energy consumption, the reduction effect – while present initially – disappears in the long run. This could suggest that external rewards reduce and even destroy intrinsic motivation to change behaviour.

Wat betekent het dat het Wiskundig Genootschap van het Nieuw Archief voor Wiskunde alweer de vijfde serie uitgeeft? Als uitgever heeft het genootschap zich een groot aantal malen vernieuwd. Minder bekend is dat hetzelfde genootschap een aantal tijdschriften niet heeft uitgegeven. Het waren keuzes, al dan niet overwogen.

Numerous potential pathways to biofuels and biochemicals exist via the sugar platform1. This study uses literature surveys, market data and stakeholder input to provide a comprehensive evidence base for policymakers and industry – identifying the key benefits and development needs for the sugar platform. The study created a company database for 94 sugar-based products, with some already commercial, the majority at research/pilot stage, and only a few demonstration plants crossing the “valley of death”. Case studies describe the value proposition, market outlook and EU activity for ten value chains (acrylic, adipic & succinic acids, FDCA, BDO, farnesene, isobutene, PLA, PHAs and PE). Most can deliver significant greenhouse savings and drop-in (or improved) properties, but at an added cost to fossil alternatives. Whilst significant progress has been made, research barriers remain around lignocellulosic biomass fractionation, product separation energy, biological inhibition, chemical selectivity and monomer purity, plus improving whole chain process integration. An assessment of EU competitiveness highlights strengths in R&D, but a lack of strong commercial activity, due to the US, China and Brazil having more attractive feedstock and investment conditions. Further policy development, in particular for biochemicals, will be required to realise a competitive European sugar-based bioeconomy.

Playfulness was at the heart of how European players appropriated microcomputers in the last quarter of the twentieth century. Although gaming has been important for computer development, that is not the subject of Hacking Europe. Our book’s main focus is the playfulness of hacker culture. The essays argue that no matter how detailed or unfinished the design projecting the use of computers, users playfully assigned their own meanings to the machines in unexpected ways. Chopping games in Warsaw, hacking software in Athens, creating chaos in Hamburg, producing demos in Turku, or partying with computing in Zagreb and Amsterdam—wherever computers came with specific meanings that designers had attached to them—local communities throughout Europe found them technically fascinating, culturally inspiring, and politically motivating machines. They began tinkering with the new technology with boundless enthusiasm and helped revolutionize the use and meaning of computers by incorporating them into people’s daily lives. As tinkerers, hackers appropriated the machine and created a new culture around it. Perhaps best known and most visible were the hacker cultures that toyed with the meaning of ownership in the domain of information technology. In several parts of Europe, hackers created a counterculture akin to the squatter movement that challenged individual ownership, demanded equal access, and celebrated shared use of the new technological potential. The German Chaos Computer Club best embodied the European version of the political fusion of the counterculture movement and the love of technology. Linguistically, in Dutch, the slang word "kraken," the term used for both hacking and squatting, pointedly expressed such creative fusion that is the subject of this book.

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Nieuwe technieken maken het opslaan en verwerken van informatie eenvoudiger. Sterker nog: ze maken de weg vrij om gegevens vast te leggen voordat duidelijk is welk inzicht we eigenlijk nastreven. Toezicht wint zo terrein ten opzichte van de kennisverwerving. Voorbeelden van toenemend toezicht zijn elektronische dossiers over burgers, informatievergaring door de politie en in private initiatieven zoals Google Earth. Deze systemen maken het mogelijk om op grote schaal verbanden te ontdekken en afwijkingen op te sporen, zonder dat er duidelijke kennisvragen aan vooraf gaan. De relatie tussen inzicht en toezicht is bepalend voor hoe we met de verzamelde kennis omgaan. Ligt de nadruk daarbij op inzicht, overzicht, toezicht, of nog iets anders?

In dit artikel bespreek ik de karakteristieken van 56 Nederlandse websites met een mogelijk potentieel om burgerschap te stimuleren onder jonge mensen. Ik beschrijf de uiterlijke, structurele en inhoudelijke kenmerken van deze websites. Op basis van deze kenmerken, stel ik de vraag of en hoe de websites be-trokkenheid, kennis, participatie en discussie kunnen opwekken onder hun bezoekers. Deze vraag is relevant in de context van de politieke, maatschappelijke en wetenschappelijke discussie over de rol van het internet in de vermeende aftakeling van burgerschapszin onder jonge mensen. Het onderzoek brengt twee belangrijke conclusies voort. Ten eerste, de geanalyseerde websites kunnen engageren door kennis over te dragen, maar minder door te overtuigen. Ten tweede, de websites kunnen activeren in de offline sfeer, maar minder in de online sfeer.

Alweer het vierde Jaarboek KennisSamenleving zet de praktijk van het Nederlandse burgerschap in de volle breedte neer. Het boek opent met schijnbaar traditionele politieke vragen, hoe in bepaalde situaties te handelen, waaraan loyaal te zijn, waarvoor verantwoordelijkheid te nemen. Aan de hand van de bespreking van diverse voorbeelden rijst in dit boek het inzicht dat de overheid en de burger misgrijpen als ze op vanzelfsprekendheden koersen bij het vormgeven van ‘burgerschap’. Het politieke, publieke en intellectuele debat genereert inmiddels nieuwe beelden om de burger opnieuw vorm te geven. Een aantal kritische auteurs onderzoekt in dit Jaarboek wat burger en staat aan die beelden kunnen hebben, maar andersom ook welke dwang er van al te vastomlijnde beelden kan uitgaan. De aandacht gaat hierbij vooral uit naar veronderstellingen over de kennis en vaardigheden van de burger. De discussie over de invulling en maakbaarheid van burgerschap krijgt hiermee een belangrijke impuls.

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Martin Campbell-Kelly opened a new field in the history of computing in his groundbreaking From airline reservation to Sonic the Hedgehog; a history of the software industry. The book is discussed by Adrienne van den Bogaard and Frank Veraart and by Gerard Alberts, followed by a reply by the author. Van den Bogaard and Veraart join great appreciation for the three-sector division Campbell-Kelly developed to describe the history of the software industry, to a slight criticism of his ad hoc-argumentation in explaining why in each sector some enterprises survive and others do not. Lacking, in their view, is a discussion of the dynamics of software itself in the context of emerging practices and businesses. Alberts overcomes his prima facie unease with the "entrepreneurial briefs" of the multitude of software houses, by recognizing the true historian at work. ICT has brought about many changes, including structural changes in the economy. While Campbell-Kelly emphasizes novel aspects of the software economy, in particular the economy of increasing returns, Alberts proposes a more radical interpretation of these phenomena, asking if one call still talk of an "industry". Have we not entered the postindustrial era? In reply, Martin Campbell-Kelly takes the blame for his choices of style, while insisting on his taxonomy of the software industry, and on calling it industry. The present report results from a debate in the Colloquium History of Computing, held at the CWI, June 10-11, 2004¿.

Het Nederlands Forensisch Instituut herbergt vele wiskundigen en dat is eigenlijk niet zo vreemd. Bij recherche en justitie is men vertrouwd met waarheid en waarschijnlijkheid, met logica en kansberekening.Wat doen wiskundigen in dit instituut? Hoog tijd om eens een kijkje te nemen achter de schermen.

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