Willem van der Woude

Willem van der Woude
Van der Woude (right) in Leiden, 1917
Born	(1876-01-15)January 15, 1876 Oosternijkerk
Died	September 23, 1974(1974-09-23) (aged 98) Oegstgeest
Alma mater	University of Groningen
Scientific career
Fields	Mathematics
Institutions	University of Leiden
Doctoral students	Gerrit Bol Oene Bottema Tatyana Pavlovna Ehrenfest Egbert van Kampen Nicolaas Kuiper Antonie Frans Monna

Willem van der Woude (15 January 1876 – 23 September 1974) was a Dutch mathematician and rector magnificus of the University of Leiden.

Van der Woude studied at the University of Groningen and then from 1901 to 1916 taught in Deventer. In 1908 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Groningen under Pieter Hendrik Schoute with thesis Over elkaar snijdende normalen aan een ellipsoide en een hyperellipsoide (On intersecting normals to an ellipsoid and a hyperellipsoid). From 1916 until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1947 he was professor of mathematics and mechanics at the University of Leiden.

In 1924 he was an invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto. In the years 1923, 1924, 1939 and 1940 he chaired the Koninklijk Wiskundig Genootschap.

He was rector magnificus of the University of Leiden during three separate periods: 1934-1935, 1941-43 and 1945 (until he was succeeded by Berend George Escher).