Gathering dust: Atoms

On Saturdays I rummage through my old cabinet, pull out and dust off an item, and present it here on Roots. Today: A photo from the 1957 exhibition The Atom.

On 28 June 1957, HRH Prince Bernhard opened the exhibition The Atom, in presence of his wife, HM Queen Juliana, and many other guests.

The Atom was a major exhibition, highlighting the many blessings of nuclear energy. At the time, we did not know much about the risks and dangers. Highlight of the exhibition was a real, working, nuclear reactor.

I found this short film about the opening of the exhibition on YouTube:

Among the guests were representatives of the company Ahrend, which, at the time, operated a major bookstore. One of these representatives was my grandfather, Hendrik van Kampen. Another representative of Ahrend offered two copies of the book Book of the Atom, by Leonard de Vries, to the Queen. On the photo below (a photo that my grandfather was very proud of) we see the presenting of the book to HM the Queen. To the right of the Queen is her husband, HRH Prince Bernhard. Third from the left, with glasses, is my grandfather.

Meeting Queen Juliana

There are a few more items related to this exhibition opening that I need to dust off, I will present those next week.