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Leiden Institute of Physics

Archive: Tatiana Afanassjewa public lectures

The Tatiana Afanassjewa-lecture series was a series of public talks in Dutch that was started during the Covid-19 lockdown. The talks were given by Leiden physicists on wednesday evenings, intended for everyone with an interest in physics.

The lecture series started with Margriet van der Heijden's 19 February lecture about 'Denken is Verrukkelijk', her double biography of physicists Paul Ehrenfest and his wife Tatiana Afanassjewa. Afanassjewa, next to being Ehrenfests wife and sparring partner, was an independent scientist, who made contributions in thermodynamics and the didactics of mathematics. But the Leiden of a century ago did not provide many possibilities for women in science, and there was no job or professional recognition for Afanassjewa.

The name is a belated homage to Afanassjewa and also a nod to the Ehrenfest Colloquium, the interactive physics lectures that Paul Ehrenfest started, which are still being organised. We use the Dutch transcription of her name, which she used herself.

Past lectures

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