Nicolaas Dirksen

Nicolaas Dirksen was a Dutch mathematician and physicist in service of Prussia.

Early Life
Nicolaas Dirksen was born to a French-born shoemaker who fled France due to his family's anti-royal activity and changed his name; and a Dutch middle-class family eldest daughter. His parents ran a Dutch shoemaker that was relatively popular in the Netherlands at the time.

Nicolaas was the eldest of three children. His parents had saved a lot of money to enable their eldest child to study at a College. In his youth, Nicolaas helped his parents at the shoemaker business. At the age of 16, Nicolaas started studying mathematics and physics at the University of Utrecht. He was described as 'dedicated' and 'hungry for knowledge'.

Life
In 1682, at the age of 20, Nicolaas graduated from the University of Utrecht with perfect grades. He went on to work for the biggest Dutch weapon manufacturer at the time, Amsterdam Wapen. Dirksen created a musket prototype that was never released due to the complicated manufacturing process that was named the Dirksen-Musket. The benefits of the Dirksen-Musket were faster reloading time and higher precision yet the expense was not manageable to be introduced to the army. It was, however, popular with Dutch noblemen.

In 1687, when Nicolaas was 25, he was invited to the gathering of world-renowned mathematicians in neutral Luzern, Switzerland. There he met the most famous and brightest mathematicians of the time.

In 1691, at the age of 29, Nicolaas was invited to a feast at the court of Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg who later became the first King of Prussia. There, the Elector made a very convincing impression on the young scientist and promised him his own laboratory with all needs covered if he should decide to work for Prussia.

When Prussia turned Kingdom in 1701, Nicolaas Dirksen accepted the King's offer and received his own laboratory in Berlin. There he worked on mathematical and physical theories. The King kept his promise and the scientist's needs were perfectly met.

In 1703, the King presented the 41 year old scientist with Prussian citizenship.

Nicolaas Dirksen died naturally in Berlin at the age of 65.