Jan Tinbergen was a noted 20th century Dutch economist, who won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1969. He broke new grounds in the development of econometrics, which connected mathematics and statistics to economic theory. Although he entered the University of Leiden with physics and mathematics, he soon realized that if he wanted to make some meaningful contribution to the society, he needed to study economics. Studying the subject in private, he earned his PhD in physics and thereafter joined Bureau of Statistics, where he worked for almost sixteen years before moving to Central Planning Bureau of Netherlands. Concurrently, he also taught at The Netherlands School of Economics, initially as an Associate Professor of Mathematics and Statistics. Later, on retiring from Central Planning Bureau, he devoted himself fulltime to teaching, having number of doctoral students, who later became eminent economists. Today, he is known as one of the founding fathers of econometrics. Understanding of dynamic models, developing the first macro econometric models as well as the solution of the identification problem are few of his major achievements. Known for his gentleness and modesty, he never criticized his colleagues. He could have used his talents to gather wealth, but he chose to devote his knowledge in the service of mankind.