Robbert Dijkgraaf comes bearing gifts – who will get one?

A bunny joining a pack of wolves. That was my first thought when I learned that renowned theoretical physicist Robbert Dijkgraaf accepted the position as Minister of Education, Culture and Science (ECS) in the recently sworn-in cabinet Rutte IV. Such a nice guy, whose twinkly eyes on TV enthused so many about the wonders of science, won’t last a week in the ruthless political arena, I reckoned. Remember what happened to fellow high-flying scientist Ronald Plasterk? Even though the molecular geneticist projected much more of an alpha male aura than Dijkgraaf, his two tenures as a minister didn’t amount to anything memorable. The (former?) social-democrat now writes contrarian opinion pieces that are particularly well-received by far-right populists.

Such judgments are superficial, of course. There’s no reason to suppose that Dijkgraaf’s appointment is doomed from the start. The coalition seems to have a genuine desire to address a number of long-standing issues in the academic community and is giving Dijkgraaf a nice chunk of spending money to do so. Quite a relief, after the rather ham-handed approach of the three previous Rutte cabinets to research and education.