When I entered academic studies in 1960 it was generally assumed that I would be a medical doctor. My father was very disappointed when I changed my plans and decided to become a psychologist. He had no clue what that was and neither had I! The life a doctor did not look eventful to me and the novelty of psychology seemed attractive. I soon learned my father was right: psychology was dull and not a real science and it took me some years to discover the merits of psychology. In my second year in college I had the luck to become the personal assistant to Prof Dr Hans Linschoten, a man of exceptional calibre who had just completed his book 'Idols of the psychologist' in which he investigated how the subjective judgement of a psychologist may advance psychology as an objective science. My career decision was made, I wanted to work with Linschoten at the university. But Linschoten died within a few years and university psychology became as dull as before. I had to look for something else and in 1965 I found a place at the Institute for Perception in Soesterberg, newly founded by the physicist Maarten Bouman. He had collected eminent psychologists such as Pim Levelt, John Michon and Andries Sanders under the direction of Prof Dr John van de Geer from Leiden University, who all taught me empirical psychology. John van de Geer was a professor maker: at a certain point in time, all chairs in The Netherlands for empirical psychology and methods and statistics were occupied by psychologists trained by him.
My entrance interview with Maarten Bouman ended with Bouman's request that I resolve a feud between Amsterdam Airport and the Dutch Government about air traffic control, a subject notorious for its political impact (as Thatcher and Reagan found out some time later). The authority of Amsterdam Airport had planned a huge move to a different location but the unions opposed this and argued that the recently acquired equipment could not be used at the new location. It was my task to improve the equipment so that it could be used. The continuation of my appointment was conditional upon my success with this hairy consignment. By applying some psychological pressure upon the best-paid controllers, I succeeded in making the system work and Amsterdam Airport moved on the anticipated day to its new location. It was a surprise to me that Bouman had enough trust in me to gave this important assignment to a mere psychology student with nothing else to show. But I got the appointment and that is how my career as a psychologist started.
Thanks to Bouman's trust, I worked for the next 20 years on problems of ship lock design, simulators for large oil tankers, the government's battle against illegal gambling and on safety at sea. The building designs of the huge Volkerak locks near Rotterdam were changed according to my proposals. Psychology had become a credible science. For the oil tanker project, we needed to learn the hybrid technology of