Following a cycling accident (‘That was on 31 January 2021’), walking has become more difficult. ‘I was always into hockey and tennis, but during rehabilitation I realised that would no longer be possible. This was in the middle of the Covid period.’ All the more reason for The Hague-born Van ’t Land to rely on his razor-sharp mind, which never rests. ‘I thought: what can I still do? Others enjoy playing bridge. I like writing books and articles.’
Publishing powerhouse
Before receiving the official approval of his dissertation, titled Intrinsic continuous process safeguarding, in April, Van ’t Land had already published an article in the scientific journal American Chemical Society, and recently submitted an opinion piece to Dutch trade magazine De Ingenieur. ‘Public debate these days often focuses on small nuclear reactors. They are said to be better than one large one. I disagree. Besides being difficult to control safely, they are also very expensive. So, I put pen to paper. I simply enjoy it.’
He also wrote to a shipbuilder who wants to power ocean vessels with nuclear energy. An idea of which he is not convinced. ‘What if one sinks to a depth of, say, five kilometres? How would you recover it responsibly? I never got an answer to that.’
Safety is his domain, and the focus of his dissertation. ‘In short, if you have an industrial-scale chemical process, make sure it can shut down or extinguish itself in case of an incident, or else keep as much distance from it as possible.’
Akzo Nobel
Van ’t Land has been part of UT since the beginning. In 1964, he joined the first cohort of Chemical Engineering students at the Technische Hogeschool Twente, UT’s predecessor. After graduating in 1971, he started at Dutch multinational Akzo Nobel, where he worked in research for 32 years. His well-meant but unsolicited advice was not always appreciated. He chuckles: ‘An American colleague once put it nicely: “Colleague A mentions a topic, a little later colleague B does the same, and then Kees gives a 15-minute lecture on it.”’
In 2000, Akzo Nobel sent all employees over 57 into early retirement. ‘Others in my cohort threw their hats in the air, they were so happy. I didn’t like it at all — I wasn’t finished yet.’ He decided to continue as an independent consultant in chemical process safety. ‘It helped that Akzo immediately rehired me as a freelancer.’ He also spent some time teaching.
A carer
Why is he defending his dissertation only in October, rather than April? The talkative Van ’t Land falls silent. His face darkens and his hands tremble. ‘I must man up now. It was planned for April, but then my wife, Annechien, passed away. We had been married for 66 years.’ She supported him in everything and encouraged him to continue. ‘In her final years I was her carer. Towards the end, she lay here in a bed in the living room. I would sit next to her, working on my dissertation.’
Old school
Supervisor Meik Franke is deeply impressed by Van ’t Land’s sharp mind and discipline. ‘Despite his age, Mr. Van ’t Land is fully engaged with life. He reads three newspapers — two Dutch and one German. He is very involved, and enjoys discussing world affairs. He is old school, working extremely meticulously and with great discipline. Every meeting and exchange about the research was numbered and archived. He worked from Monday to Sunday, five to six hours a day, while caring for his wife.’
Is Van ’t Land proud of his PhD? He picks up a hefty 500-page volume from a pile. ‘I’ve written five books on different subjects. But they make more of a fuss about a PhD.’
Stopping is not on his mind. Quite the opposite; it has left him wanting more. ‘I’ve asked Meik if he has a few more jobs for me.’
