Mertens, Robert Antoine (1921-2006)

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Mathematician and physicist, born in Antwerp on 28 April 1921 and died in the same city on 7 May 2006.

Biography

Robert Mertens was born on 28 April 1921 in Antwerp. He attended secondary school at the Royal Atheneum of Antwerp. In 1943 he obtained a licentiate in sciences with specialisation in mathematical physics at the State University of Ghent (RUG). In 1949 he was promoted to Doctor of Science at the State University of Ghent. In 1955 he obtained the aggregate higher education.
Robert Mertens started his career at the Royal Atheneas of Brussels, Antwerp and Kapellen.
From 1950 to 1953, he worked as a researcher in the department of mathematical physics at the Interuniversity Institute for Nuclear Physics (IINP). His department head was Maurice Nuyens.
From 1953 to 1959, he worked as a repetitor at the Preparatory Schools for Civil Engineering at the State University of Ghent. He was in charge of repetitions and exercises of the analytical mechanics course. At the NFWO he was an associate researcher from 1957 to 1963. He was a member of several committees within this organisation: the Commission for Physics and the Commission for Solid State Physics.
From 1959 to 1963 he was a faculty aggregate at the Faculty of Applied Sciences at the RUG. In 1963 he was appointed lecturer and in 1965 he became a professor.
He held the chair of theoretical mechanics and was responsible for the courses in theoretical mechanics at the Faculties of Science and Applied Sciences at the RUG. He reintroduced the subject of theoretical mechanics after an interruption of 37 years, it was included in the licenses of mathematics. He taught various free courses on specific topics within this subject.
Besides his academic career, he fulfilled several administrative functions at the State University of Ghent. From 1976 to 1980 he was dean of the Faculty of Science and from 1977 to 1985 he was a member of the Board of Governors.
He was admitted to emeritus status in 1986.
He became a corresponding member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts (KVAB) on 7 October 1981, a working member on 11 February 1987, chairman of the board in 1992 and an honorary member in 1996. He was the representative of the Science Class at the Centre for European Culture, a member and chairman of the The National Committee for Theoretic and Applied Mechanics and a member of the Bestendige Commissie voor de Geschiedenis van de Wetenschappen [Standing Committee for the History of Science]. He was co-organiser of the first National Congress in theoretical and applied mechanics in 1987. He was a member of the Commission of the Vanderlinden fund and of the Board of Directors of the Frans van Cauwelaert Fund. He was a member of the Gesellschaft für Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik.
He died at his home in Antwerp on 7 May 2006.

Work

His doctorate dealt with the diffraction of light by ultrasounds, this discipline is now called acousto-optics. He studied the diffraction of light by ultrasound waves. In the field of acoustics, he did research on the theory of musical instruments, mainly piano and string instruments. He made an important contribution to the introduction of the study and scientific research of acousto-optics in our country.
In transport theory, he investigated the multiple scattering of uncharged and charged particles and of radiation in infinite, semi-infinite and finite mediums.
He did research on the dynamics of spinning tops, on Newton's inverse problem and on adiabatic invariants of non-linear Hamiltonian systems. He provided an important impetus to scientific research in the discipline of theoretical mechanics.
He received several awards for his research: in 1983 he became Fellow of the British Institute of Acoustics and one year later Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, a branch of the American Physical Society.

History of science

He wrote contributions on Simon Stevin, Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, ... He also conducted research into the use of language in the sciences. For this research he collaborated with Jacques Péters.

Scientific thought

He advocated for the recognition of scientific thought as a form of culture, on an equal footing with history, literature, art and economics. This principle was recognised at the Academy, which led to the organisation of colloquia with European Nobel Prize laureates in the sciences.

Publications

• List with publications (catalogue UGhent) visited on 02/08/2010 10h.

Bibliography

• Thas, Joseph,"In memoriam Robert A.Mertens", In:Jaarboek 2006, Brussels: KVAB, p.157-159.
• "Robert A. Mertens", In: De Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor wetenschappen en kunsten en haar leden, Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor wetenschappen en kunsten, 2010, p.186.