Floris van der Tak appointed as a professor in submillimetre astronomy

Floris van der Tak, working at the Space Research Organisation of the Netherlands (SRON) has been appointed as a professor in the submillimetre astronomy on June 17, 2013. He is one of the key people at SRON-Groningen, where he has been combining a job as a scientist with a zero appointment as UHD at the University of Groningen. Prof. Dr. F.F.S. van der Tak does research in the area of submillimetre astronomy, working on Galactic star formation regions and on nuclei of external galaxies. He has been very active in analysing data of the HIFI instrument on the Herschel telescope. Prof. Van der Tak at present has 4 PhD students and 3 postdocs.

The appointment as honorary professor has been endowed by the Stichting Leonardo da Vinci, with the aim to strengthen the existing links between SRON and the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, and to make the SPICA/SAFARI project a success. Prof. Van der Tak will contribute to the scientific status of the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute by adding his scientific expertise, contributing to its education program in a structural way, and by educating PhD students.