Lodewijk Woltjer

Lodewijk Woltjer ( * 1930) is a Dutch astronomer.

Woltjer studied in Leiden, where he received his doctorate in 1957 under Jan Oort with a thesis on the Crab Nebula. It postdoctoral studies at several American universities and the appointment as professor of theoretical astrophysics and plasma physics in Leiden.

From 1964 to 1974 he was Professor of Astronomy and Rutherford Head of the Astronomy Department at Columbia University in New York.

From 1975 to 1987 he was Director General of the European Southern Observatory ( ESO ), where he directed the construction of the Very Large Telescope in the ways, and 1994-1997 President of the International Astronomical Union.

Woltjer in 1987 awarded the Karl Schwarzschild Medal.