Van der Pol born 1889 in Utrecht Netherlands. Studied physics Utrecht University 1911-1916. Worked under Fleming and Thomson in England on wireless reception. Married 1917 had son and two daughters. Assisted Lorentz at Teylers Museum 1919. Earned PhD Utrecht 1920. Joined Philips Research Eindhoven 1922 retired 1949. Professor Theoretical Electricity Delft 1938. Invented relaxation oscillations from coupled electrical systems. With van der Mark modeled heartbeat as relaxation oscillation providing early action potential model. Created van der Pol equation. Contributed to Heaviside operational calculus wrote book on it. Awarded IRE Medal of Honor 1935 for circuit theory and wave propagation. Asteroid 10443 named after him. Elected Royal Netherlands Academy 1949. Published heartbeat paper 1928. Published zeta function paper 1947.