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It had been customary for a number of years that a playful menu was designed for the professors dinner (the Senate) at the occasion of the February 8 anniversary (Dies Natalis) of Leiden University. The main topic of these menus was the rector magnificus (chancellor). Because the rectorship rotated annually until 1972, there was a new rector every year who could serve as inspiration. The menu that accompanied the Senate dinner on 8 February 1904, with Heike Kamerlingh Onnes as rector, had a distinctly scientific appearance. Dishes and wines, from "Huitres de Zélande" and "Irroy demie Sec" to Croûte de foie gras Germanique" and "Bourg Pommard, were printed on a Gibbs surface, which had recently been manufactured from plaster in the Physics Laboratory. Also on the menu was a drawing of the Rapenburg with, side by side, Onnes's parental home on the Noorderhaven, the Groningen Academy Building, the ruins of Heidelberg Castle, the Polytechnic School on the Oude Delft, the Leiden Academy Building and the Physics Laboratory — a drawing by Menso. On the back was Heike doing swing tests in his "cyclops cave" under the watchful eye of dogs, and a photo of room E with the cascade for liquid oxygen. Dirk van Delft, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, blz. 392 More menu cards |