Frans Glissenaar, author of the book Tussen de vier zeeën (Between the four seas) on Professor Thung, will be coming to the campus to give a talk. Thung (1897-1960) was the founding father of virology in Wageningen. Glissener wrote a biography of the professor, which was published last year. An article about Glissener and his book appeared in Resource.
To mark the book’s publication, the exhibition Fascinating Viruses opened in the Special Collections exhibition space of the WUR library. Thung’s family had donated his archive to Special Collections. The exhibition has attracted a lot of interest, which is why the decision was taken to extend the exhibition period to one week after Glissenaar’s talk.
Pioneering
The Chinese-Indonesian scholar Hiang Tjeng Thung was not only the man who started the study of virology in Wageningen, he was also the first professor of Virology in the world. Wageningen’s virology research was pioneering in the 1950s. Thung died suddenly of heart failure in 1960. The funeral procession in Wageningen for this much-loved professor covered two kilometres.
Behind the scenes
The talk will be given on campus in Forum on Wednesday 24 April, starting at 15:00. The lecture will be followed by a guided tour of the exhibition, and Special Collections will also offer a peek behind the scenes. Special Collections manages WUR’s scientific heritage.
Talk venue: Forum, Room B0313 (third floor). The talk will be in Dutch. Admission is free, but you are asked to register at speccoll.library@wur.nl
