The first four women to obtain a PhD in physics at Leiden University all graduated with Nobel laureate Hendrik Lorentz, among them Hendrika Johanna (Jo) van Leeuwen (1887−1974). She and her younger sister Cornelia (Nel) van Leeuwen finished their undergraduate studies in physics in Leiden in the early twentieth century. Whereas the younger sister left physics in 1917 after a relatively short period as a graduate student, Jo van Leeuwen went on to earn a PhD in 1919. Her thesis elucidates that magnetism is exclusively a quantum phenomenon – a result that was independently also obtained by Niels Bohr and that is now commonly known as the Bohr–van Leeuwen theorem. From 1920 onwards Van Leeuwen worked at the Technische Hoogeschool in Delft (now Delft University of Technology). Initially serving as an assistant, she was appointed as a reader in theoretical and applied physics in 1947, becoming the first female reader in Delft. This chapter outlines the foray into physics by the two sisters, focusing specifically on Jo van Leeuwen, detailing her work and early contributions to the quantum theory of magnetism.
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