Abstract. The term 'nostrification' was used for the appropriation of a (physical) theory by mathematicians who transformed it into a pure part of mathematics. It was coined for a typical Goettingen habit found in F.Klein, H.Minkowski and D.Hilbert with regard to special and general relativity theory in the beginning of the 20th century.

The young Dutch mathematician Bartel L. van der Waerden (1903-1996) was interested in quantum mechanics, and began to publish on spinors in the context of special and general relativity theory (1929,1932,1933). Although van der Waerden had studied several years in Goettingen and has become a famous representative of E. Noether's Goettingen school of abstract algebra, his work on spinors is not an example of 'nostrification'. My analysis of van der Waerden's work on spinors has shown that van der der Waerden's approach to physics can be characterized by a pragmatic and cautious attitude.

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