About Gijsbert

The less you know …

 

Nature, history, science, history, and food have always been important in my life. I also want to understand why things are the way they are and where things come from. I love talking with people about these things and learning about new ideas and perspectives. Over the years I have become a bit of a bookie - I love books, even more than reading them.

Nature - Growing up at the coast

As a kid I grew up at the Dutch North Sea coast and always enjoyed spending time in nature. We lived in the historic center of a tiny “city” (it is tiny and actually has city rights since the middle ages) with old fortification walls around it. A lot of my time was spent around these fortifications, the old river, and the woods. I especially remember the amazing smell, sounds, and warmth on my face when walking through the dune woods.

 

History

From a young age my parents dragged me to old historic sites - I mean, they introduced me to monuments and history. As an 8-year-old I was more interested in ice-cream than some old building in Italy, but at some point I got the hang of it (while still eating ice-cream of course). The way things were, the way people thought, what they did and why, drives how things are now and why we think the way we do. Whenever I learn something new I feel a piece of the puzzle is added. Usually, the puzzle also gets bigger, but that is part of the fun.

 

Science

I have always been driven by trying to understand why. Early experiments around the age of seven included cooking random, possible flammable mixtures on our family stove (yes, open flame, great idea) and trying to melt a brick on the barbecue. Over time my interests evolved to astronomy, geology, and mathematics, although I still enjoy grilling the odd brick every now and then.

I obtained a BSc in Applied Earth Sciences at TU Delft in The Netherlands and and MSc and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering at Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland. The focus of my studies was on raw materials, processing, and recycling. My interests in mathematics lead me to develop computational models of the processes I studied to design new processes and predict how they behave.

Putting it all together - cooking

When I have the time I love cooking. Cooking is experimenting and being perfectionist and imperfectionist at the same time. Just like with books, my cooking has seasons. Sometimes I enjoy making a large batch of sushi, sometimes a nice stew or pasta, all from scratch of course.