Veterinary Medicine

The interviews were conducted for the historical study by C. Offringa, Van Gildestein naar Uithof, today known as the Utrecht Science Park. In 1951, Utrecht University decided to move the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine from the old location of the Rijks Veeartsenijschool on Biltsstraat to the Uithof. Since 2011, the name has been renamed the Utrecht Science Park.

The first volume appeared in 1971 as a dissertation entitled: Van Gildestein naar Uithof : 150 jaar diergeneeskundig onderwijs in Utrecht. The second volume appeared in 1981. The two volumes are a resource for various groups of historians. The content is more than a barren enumeration of facts, more than a compilation of annual reports or data from almanacs. Moreover, the text is well documented. The content of the material has posed problems for the author, which will not surprise anyone who tries to give an overview of “modern” developments in the institutions of education and scientific research, and moreover tries to place them in the social and political conditions of the period.

Hence the author has secured helpers, largely former professors, who were still active in the period.

The following former professors were interviewed:

• Prof. Dr. J.A. Beijers, ordinary professor of special pathology and medicine of non-parasitic and non-infectious diseases, judicial veterinary science, history of veterinary medicine, clinic and outdoor practice
• Prof. Dr. L. Seekles, ordinary professor of medical-veterinary chemistry
• Prof. J.H. ten Thije, ordinary professor of general pathology, pathological dissection and pathological tissue engineering. Later full professor of general and comparative pathology.

Interviewers: S.R. Numans, R.L. Schuursma

For more information about the interviews and the interviewees, see: SFW work issue no. 8 (1995), pp. 5, 38, 44.