Lili Bleeker

Caroline Emilie "Lili" Bleeker
Dr. Caroline Bleeker
Born(1897-01-17)17 January 1897
Middelburg
Died8 November 1985(1985-11-08) (aged 88)
Zeist
NationalityDutch

Caroline Emilie "Lili" Bleeker (17 January 1897 – 8 November 1985) was a Dutch entrepreneur and physicist from Middelburg known for her designs and the manufacturing of optical instruments. In the era she grew up, it was the norm for women to become housewives whose chief roles were to perform domestic duties, but Bleeker did not want to conform to these standards. She wanted to pursue an education, and never married her life-long partner, Gerard Willemse, which was quite anomalous at the time.[1] She would later emerge as one of the first women in the Netherlands to become a doctor in physics and mathematics.[2] After earning her PhD, she founded a physics consultancy firm, which served as an influence for the formation of TNO, and extended her firm by establishing a small factory where scientific and optical instruments were produced.[1]

Bleeker's firm took a huge hit due to the effects of the Second World War. Sales plummeted, she had to fire some of her employees and pay the ones who remained out of her own pocket.[3] Bleeker, along with her partner Willemse, had to go into hiding due to her actions in successfully eluding Jews from the German Officers when they invaded her factory.[1] She re-emerged her firm after the end of the war. Because of her actions in the war, Bleeker was awarded the Royal Distinction by the Dutch army, and was later granted a recovery loan by the government to open up a new factory in Zeist.[1] Her company manufactured the optical instruments required for the development of the phase contrast microscope, which was invented by Frits Zernike who received the Nobel prize in 1953 for this invention, and held his patents on the design.[1][4]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Dr. Caroline Emilie Bleeker, physicist and businesswoman". www.koorneef.net. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  2. ^ "Nedoptifa S microscoop". www.microscopen-specialist.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  3. ^ Gijs van Ginkel. "BINOCULARS MADE IN HOLLAND: BLEEKER DR. CAROLINE (LILI) EMILIE BLEEKER (1897-1985) BRILLIANT SCIENTIST DUTCH PIONEER DESIGNER AND PRODUCER OF OPTICAL INSTRUMENTS INITIATOR AND DIRECTOR OF THE FIRST DUTCH OPTICAL FACTORY NEDOPTIFA (1930-1978). A short history" (PDF).
  4. ^ "Nedoptifa | Delft Microbiology". delftschoolmicrobiology.weblog.tudelft.nl. Retrieved 2017-12-02.