# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/lodewijk-woltjer
# Generated: 2026-08-13T08:20:18.729Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/lodewijk-woltjer"
name: "Lodewijk Woltjer"
slug: "lodewijk-woltjer"
description: "Lodewijk Woltjer was an astronomer, and the son of astronomer Jan Woltjer. He studied at the University of Leiden under Jan Oort earning a PhD in astronomy in 1957 with a thesis on the Crab Nebula. This was followed by post-doctoral research appointments to various American universities and the subsequent appointment of professor of theoretical astrophysics and plasma physics in the University of Leiden. From 1964 to 1974 he was Rutherford Professor of Astronomy and Chair of the Astronomy Department at Columbia University in New York. From 1975 to 1987 he was Director General of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), where he initiated the construction of the Very Large Telescope. In 1994–1997 he was President of the International Astronomical Union. Woltjer was honored in 1987 with the Karl Schwarzschild Medal."
tagline: "Dutch astronomer (1930-2019)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Lodewijk_Woltjer_at_the_ESO_50th_Anniversary_Gala_Event_-_01.jpg?width=1200"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1930-04-26"
deathDate: "2019-08-25"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           40.65
  momentum:             0
  historical:           10.27296666666667
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "FALLING"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
sources:
  - url: "https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B4%9B%E5%BE%B7%E9%9F%A6%E5%85%8B%C2%B7%E6%B2%83%E5%B0%94%E5%88%87%E5%B0%94"
    title: "洛德韦克·沃尔切尔"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://arz.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%84%D9%88%D8%AF%D9%8A%D9%88%D9%8A%DA%86%D9%83_%D9%88%D9%84%D8%AA%DA%86%D9%8A%D8%B1"
    title: "لوديويچك ولتچير"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodewijk_Woltjer"
    title: "Lodewijk Woltjer"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodewijk_Woltjer"
    title: "Lodewijk Woltjer"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodewijk_Woltjer"
    title: "Lodewijk Woltjer"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodewijk_Woltjer"
    title: "Lodewijk Woltjer"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodewijk_Woltjer"
    title: "Lodewijk Woltjer"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://lmo.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodewijk_Woltjer"
    title: "Lodewijk Woltjer"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodewijk_Woltjer"
    title: "Lodewijk Woltjer"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodewijk_Woltjer"
    title: "Lodewijk Woltjer"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodewijk_Woltjer"
    title: "Lodewijk Woltjer"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodewijk_Woltjer"
    title: "Lodewijk Woltjer"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q329211"
    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Imported from discovery source: wikidata-dump