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I was born in 1947 in the Netherlands. After high school I studied psychology at the University of Nijmegen. Pattern recognition was my specilization. My knowledge and expertise regarding the subject symmetry is autodidactic.

The largest part of my working life I worked at the Ministry of Traffic and Transportation in the Netherlands. My work was to advice policy makers on possibilities to reduce congestion by influencing behavior of traffic participants.

Great passion in my life are plane symmetries en how to generate beautiful patterns out of them. A whole life I was devoted to this idea. Artists who inspire me are those working in the area of optical art (Victor Vasarely, Yaacow Agam, Jim Lambi, etc).
However,I don't feel at all like I'm an artist. I 'm only interested in making beauty out of the constraints which rule in plane symmetries. My credo is:

There is such immense beauty inherent in structures of perfect order that many an artist might wish that this beauty had originated in his own mind, instead of having been present in crystal structures from the beginning of time, long before Man came on earth to wonder at the marvel of it.
some biographical notes

Nearly half a century now I am fascinated by the subject of plane symmetry. Often I feel like Alice in Wonderland on a long long journey. Some years ago I wrote down a few 'biographical notes' about that journey, which I brought together in a book. I dedicated this book to Ineke, with who I live together. During all those years she had so much patience with my obsessive interest and encouraged me so lovingly to continue on that strange and perhaps a little foolish path.
                   

	I was born in 1947 in the Netherlands. After high school I studied psychology at the University of Nijmegen. Pattern recognition was my specilization. My knowledge and expertise regarding the subject symmetry is autodidactic. The largest part of my working life I worked at the Ministry of Traffic and Transportation in the Netherlands. My work was to advice policy makers on possibilities to reduce congestion by influencing behavior of traffic participants.
Great passion in my life are plane symmetries en how to generate beautiful patterns out of them. A whole life I was devoted to this idea. Artists who inspire me are those working in the area of optical art (Victor Vasarely, Yaacow Agam, Jim Lambi, etc). However,I don't feel at all like I'm an artist. I 'm only interested in making beauty out of the constraints which rule in plane symmetries. My credo is:
There is such immense beauty inherent in structures of perfect order that many an artist might wish that this beauty had originated in his own mind, instead of having been present in crystal structures from the beginning of time, long before Man came on earth to wonder at the marvel of it.
some biographical notes Nearly half a century now I am fascinated by the subject of plane symmetry. Often I feel like Alice in Wonderland on a long long journey. Some years ago I wrote down a few 'biographical notes' about that journey, which I brought together in a book. I dedicated this book to Ineke, with who I live together. During all those years she had so much patience with my obsessive interest and encouraged me so lovingly to continue on that strange and perhaps a little foolish path.