Michiel Smid

• Born in Tilburg, The Netherlands.
• 1979-1986: In this period, I studied Mathematics at the Mathematics and Computer Science Department, Eindhoven University of Technology. Master's Thesis "On Duadic Codes". My supervisor was Jack van Lint.
• 1986-1989: Ph.D. student in the Department of Computer Science, University of Amsterdam. Ph.D degree in November 1989, on the thesis "Dynamic Data Structures on Multiple Storage Media". My advisor was Peter van Emde Boas, whose advisor was Adriaan van Wijngaarden, whose advisor was Cornelis Benjamin Biezeno, who did not have an advisor.
• December 1989 - December 1990: Postdoc in the Department of Computer Science, University of the Saarland, Saarbrücken, Germany.
• 1990 - January 1996: Research associate (sort of assistant professor) at the Max-Planck-Institute for Computer Science, Saarbrücken, Germany.
• 1995: Habilitation in Computer Science, University of the Saarland.
• 1996: Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, King's College, London, U.K.
• December 1996 - July 2001: C3-Professor of Theoretical Computer Science in the Institute of Simulation and Graphics, Faculty of Computer Science, University of Magdeburg, Germany.
• July 2001 - June 2004: Associate Professor of Computer Science, School of Computer Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.
• Since July 2004: Professor of Computer Science, School of Computer Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada.

Here are some pictures

• Me at work at the MPI in Saarbrücken, 1996.
• Here you see me, together with Mordecai J. Golin and Wonderphil G. Bradford, just after having enjoyed a Joghurtbecher at Ice-Cafe Jesolo in Saarbrücken, 1995.
• Me back in 1996.
• Dragon-Race, Magdeburg, 2000.
• Workshop on Efficient Algorithms in Oberwolfach, 2000 and 2003.
• Two pictures taken by Rahul Ray on my birthday in La Bodega Espanola in Magdeburg, 2000.
  • Heike and Daniel Schwerdt, and me.
  • Jörg and Kara Schwerdt, Petra Specht.
• My sister Marlous; here is another picture of her.
• Here is my sister Marlous with the author Remco Campert (who is world famous in the Netherlands). The picture was taken in 2004.
• This is how I looked like in 2001.
• This is how I looked like in 2002.
• This is how I looked like in 2011.
• Pictures made during a hot-air balloon ride in July 2001, just before I left Magdeburg and moved to Ottawa; more pictures here.
• Me at work at the University of Magdeburg in December 2001, together with Heidemarie Bräsel, Ulrich Wendt, and Rene Wiermer.
• Some pictures taken by Petra Specht in 2002:
  • Petra Specht, Jan Tusch, and me
  • Petra Specht
  • Me with my new car
  • Another picture of me with my new car
  • Gannets
  • Many gannets
  • Niagara Falls
  • Another picture of Niagara Falls
  • Rocher Perce
• Me in Frankfurt, 2005
• 9th Korean Workshop on Computational Geometry and Geometric Networks, Dagstuhl, August 2006. Here are two of the masterpieces that were on display at the art exhibition in Dagstuhl.
• Who is the karaoke star on the right? Sendai, Japan, December 2007.
• School of Computer Science BBQ, March 29, 2017; Mylien, Jit, Anil, and me: picture 1, picture 2, picture 3.
• School of Computer Science BBQ, March 29, 2019; Gerhard, Andrew, Mylien, and me: picture 1, picture 2, picture 3.
• School of Computer Science BBQ, March 31, 2023; Mylien, Anil, Saeed, Alma, and me: picture 1, picture 2, picture 3.
• School of Computer Science BBQ, March 28, 2024; Saeed, Mylien, and me: picture.

Some quotations

• Niederländer gehören zu einem eigenartigen, im Ausland so gut wie unbekannten Stamm.
  
  Cees Nooteboom (Die Zeit, May 5, 1995)
  
  
• [...] the real height of Dutch liberalism is the Zuiderbad swimming pool. You can drink there. You can swim drunk. And the height of Dutch Culture was the exhibition there with bird songs broadcast underwater. You can rent the place for parties. On Sunday mornings, hungover, you can swim naked.
  
  David Lillington (Time Out, No. 1332, 1996)
  
  
• Dutchmen are tallest of all, towering an average 181cm, or 5 feet 11 inches.
  
  The Economist (February 28, 1998)
  
  
• Why Holland has been such a miserable failure on the international scene remains a major soccer mystery.
  
  Ottawa Citizen (June 11, 2004)
  
  
• The first chocolate in Japan was brought by Dutch sailors who gave it to prostitutes in Nagasaki in 1797.
  
  Ottawa Citizen (March 11, 2006)
  
  
• They idolize speedskaters the way we love rock stars and travel the world to cheer on the athletes of every nation.
  
  Ottawa Citizen (February 16, 2010)
  
  
• The Heineken Uncertainty Principle:
  
  
  It is impossible both to consume a large quantity of alcohol and to accurately report that quantity when later questioned by a policeman, while looking for your pants.
  
  
• For those who understand Saarländisch, here is the ultimate goal in life, which appeared in the Saarbrücker Zeitung:
  
  
  Nie widda schaffe.
  Un jede Dach in da Sunn liee un was Guddes esse.
  Un a wunnascheenie Frau heirade.

Herinnering aan Holland

Denkend aan Holland
zie ik breede rivieren
traag door oneindig
laagland gaan,
rijen ondenkbaar
ijle populieren
als hooge pluimen
aan den einder staan;
en in de geweldige
ruimte verzonken
de boerderijen
verspreid door het land,
boomgroepen, dorpen,
geknotte torens,
kerken en olmen
in een grootsch verband.
De lucht hangt er laag
en de zon wordt er langzaam
in grijze veelkleurige
dampen gesmoord,
en in alle gewesten
wordt de stem van het water
met zijn eeuwige rampen
gevreesd en gehoord.