Simon Olivier

Simon Cornelis Johannes Olivier (Amsterdam, 13 juni 1879 - Wageningen, 9 augustus 1961) was a Dutch chemist. He was professor at the Wageningen Agricultural College (predecessor of what is currently Wageningen University) from 1919 to 1949.

Career

Olivier studied chemistry at the Delft University of Technology. He received his doctorate in 1913 cum laude ("with high distinction") for his study on "Rate measurements in the Friedel-Crafts reaction" [translated from Dutch]. After appointments in Groningen and Nijmegen, he moved to the Wageningen Agricultural College where he was appointed professor of Organic Chemistry in 1918, the first professor of the current Laboratory of Organic Chemistry. He served as rector from 1923-1924. Olivier's publications attracted attention abroad, especially in the field of organic chemistry.

WWII

Being concerned with the rise of Nazism Olivier joined the Committee of Vigilance of Anti-National Socialist Intellectuals (in Dutch: het Comité van Waakzaamheid van anti-nationaal-socialistische Intellectueelen.) in 1936. He was a vocal advocate for the admission of Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, and joined the resistance early in the war.

Olivier was one of the few employees of the Wageningen Agricultural College who objected when asked to hand in an Aryan declaration in 1940. Threatened that this could label him as terrorist, he crossed out the form and completed a new questionnaire. Nevertheless, he continued to speak out against National Socialist ideas.

After members of the National Socialist Movement [in Dutch: NSB] -a fascist movement that affiliated with the Nazis- had plastered Wageningen and the Wageningen Agricultural College with notes about the German V-action (the V for Victory, as "Germany was winning on all fronts"), Olivier ordered a worker to remove everything. A few days later he was taken into custody. After 11 months in prison in Amersfoort, he was dismissed from his academic position and expelled from Wageningen.

He was initially locked up in the infamous Oranjehotel in Scheveningen, and subsequently imprisoned in various German concentration camps. He was released in 1943 due to his poor health. Olivier was stripped from his academic functions, banned from publishing, and was no longer allowed to appear in university cities.

Post WWII

After WWII, Olivier was appointed Rector Magnificus at the Wageningen Agricultural College for the year 1945-1946. In 1949 Olivier retired.

Personal

Olivier was married to Maria Haitsma and they had two children. His wife and one of his sons died on September 17, 1944, during a bombing raid prior to the Battle of Arnhem. Olivier was awarded the Order of the Dutch Lion (1932) and the French Legion d'honneur (1928).