Reinout Willem van Bemmelen
Encyclopedia
Reinout Willem van Bemmelen (April 14, 1904 Batavia
(Dutch East Indies
) - November 19, 1983 Unterpirkach
, Austria) was a Dutch geologist
whose interests were structural geology
, economic geology
and volcanology
. He is known for his work on these subjects and the geology of Indonesia
.
, where his father Willem van Bemmelen was the director of the Magnetic, Meteorological and Seismological Observatory. From 1920 to 1927 he studied mining engineering at Delft University in the Netherlands. Among his teachers were H.A. Brouwer and G.A.F. Molengraaff
. Van Bemmelen became PhD
in 1927 with a study on the geology of the Cordillera Bética. He took courses in volcanology
at Naples
and then worked with the geological survey in the Dutch East Indies, where he mapped parts of Java and Sumatra
. From 1933 to 1935 he studied pedology
at the Technical University of Vienna. After that he went back to Java to continue his research there. His main interest was in volcanology (magma
s and pyroclastic rock
s), structural geology
and tectonics
, especially sliding tectonics.
He was able to observe the 1930's activity of Mount Merapi
from the volcanological post at Babadan on the north west slope.
When the Japan
ese occupied the Dutch East Indies in World War II
Van Bemmelen and his wife spent three years in a prisoners camp. He belonged to a small number of professionals who were allowed by the Japanese to continue with their work. It was during that time that he managed to publish the 1941 issue of the Netherlands East Indian Volcanological Survey, which came out in 1943. With the end of the war they moved to the Netherlands, where they lived in The Hague
. The Dutch government assigned to Van Bemmelen the job to recollect all information on the geology of the Indonesian Archipelago
. (Van Bemmelen had summarized that information in a manuscript destroyed during the war). (The manuscript was entrusted to his assistant who took it to Yogyakarta. When diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Indonesia were established, the manuscript was returned to him. In the meantime, Van Bemmelen was able to produce a similar documents and in 1949 his The Geology of Indonesia was published, just after Indonesia
's independence. Van Bemmelen then spent a year as assistant of S.G. Trooster at Utrecht University
and then worked for Shell
as a consultant
.
Van Bemmelen retired in 1969, after the death of his wife in 1983 he moved to Austria, where he died shortly after. When he turned 70, Geologie en Mijnbouw published a special issue on this occasion. After his death a controversial TV series was made about his role in the euthanasia
of his wife.
at Utrecht University
. Together with M.G. Rutten he started research on the volcanology
and paleomagnetism
of Iceland
. He supervised seven doctoral dissertations on the tectonics of the Italian Alps and several dissertations on hydrology (his chair was Economic Geology).
Van Bemmelen is known for his explanation of orogeny
. In his book Mountain Building he postulated his Undation Theory. The mechanism behind orogeny was, according to Van Bemmelen, in the mantle
. Due to geochemical
differentiation slight differences in density would lead to vertical flow in the mantle, resulting in orogeny. These ideas had to be adjusted with plate tectonics
as the mechanism of orogeny
. In 1972 Van Bemmelen's book Geodynamic Models the Undation Theory was integrated in plate tectonics.
Lolage
Jakarta
Jakarta is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Officially known as the Special Capital Territory of Jakarta, it is located on the northwest coast of Java, has an area of , and a population of 9,580,000. Jakarta is the country's economic, cultural and political centre...
(Dutch East Indies
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
) - November 19, 1983 Unterpirkach
Oberdrauburg
Oberdrauburg is a market town in the district of Spittal an der Drau at the western rim of the Austrian state of Carinthia. It is situated near the Kärntner Tor , where the Drava river crosses the border from East Tyrol to Carinthia. In the west it shares border with the Tyrolian municipality of...
, Austria) was a Dutch geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
whose interests were structural geology
Structural geology
Structural geology is the study of the three-dimensional distribution of rock units with respect to their deformational histories. The primary goal of structural geology is to use measurements of present-day rock geometries to uncover information about the history of deformation in the rocks, and...
, economic geology
Economic geology
Economic geology is concerned with earth materials that can be used for economic and/or industrial purposes. These materials include precious and base metals, nonmetallic minerals, construction-grade stone, petroleum minerals, coal, and water. The term commonly refers to metallic mineral deposits...
and volcanology
Volcanology
Volcanology is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma, and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena. The term volcanology is derived from the Latin word vulcan. Vulcan was the ancient Roman god of fire....
. He is known for his work on these subjects and the geology of Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
.
Biography
Rein van Bemmelen spent his youth in the Dutch East IndiesDutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies was a Dutch colony that became modern Indonesia following World War II. It was formed from the nationalised colonies of the Dutch East India Company, which came under the administration of the Netherlands government in 1800....
, where his father Willem van Bemmelen was the director of the Magnetic, Meteorological and Seismological Observatory. From 1920 to 1927 he studied mining engineering at Delft University in the Netherlands. Among his teachers were H.A. Brouwer and G.A.F. Molengraaff
Gustaaf Adolf Frederik Molengraaff
Gustaaf Adolf Frederik Molengraaff was a Dutch geologist, biologist and explorer. He became an authority on the geology of South Africa and the Dutch East Indies....
. Van Bemmelen became PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in 1927 with a study on the geology of the Cordillera Bética. He took courses in volcanology
Volcanology
Volcanology is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma, and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena. The term volcanology is derived from the Latin word vulcan. Vulcan was the ancient Roman god of fire....
at Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
and then worked with the geological survey in the Dutch East Indies, where he mapped parts of Java and Sumatra
Sumatra
Sumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 with a population of 50,365,538...
. From 1933 to 1935 he studied pedology
Pedology
Pedology may refer to:*Pedology *Pedology *Pediatrics...
at the Technical University of Vienna. After that he went back to Java to continue his research there. His main interest was in volcanology (magma
Magma
Magma is a mixture of molten rock, volatiles and solids that is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and is expected to exist on other terrestrial planets. Besides molten rock, magma may also contain suspended crystals and dissolved gas and sometimes also gas bubbles. Magma often collects in...
s and pyroclastic rock
Pyroclastic rock
Pyroclastic rocks or pyroclastics are clastic rocks composed solely or primarily of volcanic materials. Where the volcanic material has been transported and reworked through mechanical action, such as by wind or water, these rocks are termed volcaniclastic...
s), structural geology
Structural geology
Structural geology is the study of the three-dimensional distribution of rock units with respect to their deformational histories. The primary goal of structural geology is to use measurements of present-day rock geometries to uncover information about the history of deformation in the rocks, and...
and tectonics
Tectonics
Tectonics is a field of study within geology concerned generally with the structures within the lithosphere of the Earth and particularly with the forces and movements that have operated in a region to create these structures.Tectonics is concerned with the orogenies and tectonic development of...
, especially sliding tectonics.
He was able to observe the 1930's activity of Mount Merapi
Mount Merapi
Mount Merapi, Gunung Merapi , is an active stratovolcano located on the border between Central Java and Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It is the most active volcano in Indonesia and has erupted regularly since 1548...
from the volcanological post at Babadan on the north west slope.
When the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese occupied the Dutch East Indies in World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
Van Bemmelen and his wife spent three years in a prisoners camp. He belonged to a small number of professionals who were allowed by the Japanese to continue with their work. It was during that time that he managed to publish the 1941 issue of the Netherlands East Indian Volcanological Survey, which came out in 1943. With the end of the war they moved to the Netherlands, where they lived in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. The Dutch government assigned to Van Bemmelen the job to recollect all information on the geology of the Indonesian Archipelago
Sunda Islands
The Sunda Islands are a group of islands that form part of the Malay archipelago.They are further divided into the Greater Sunda Islands and the Lesser Sunda Islands.-Administration:...
. (Van Bemmelen had summarized that information in a manuscript destroyed during the war). (The manuscript was entrusted to his assistant who took it to Yogyakarta. When diplomatic relations between the Netherlands and Indonesia were established, the manuscript was returned to him. In the meantime, Van Bemmelen was able to produce a similar documents and in 1949 his The Geology of Indonesia was published, just after Indonesia
Indonesia
Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...
's independence. Van Bemmelen then spent a year as assistant of S.G. Trooster at Utrecht University
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
and then worked for Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
as a consultant
Consultant
A consultant is a professional who provides professional or expert advice in a particular area such as management, accountancy, the environment, entertainment, technology, law , human resources, marketing, emergency management, food production, medicine, finance, life management, economics, public...
.
Van Bemmelen retired in 1969, after the death of his wife in 1983 he moved to Austria, where he died shortly after. When he turned 70, Geologie en Mijnbouw published a special issue on this occasion. After his death a controversial TV series was made about his role in the euthanasia
Euthanasia
Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....
of his wife.
Academic career
In 1950 Van Bemmelen became a professorProfessor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
at Utrecht University
Utrecht University
Utrecht University is a university in Utrecht, Netherlands. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands and one of the largest in Europe. Established March 26, 1636, it had an enrollment of 29,082 students in 2008, and employed 8,614 faculty and staff, 570 of which are full professors....
. Together with M.G. Rutten he started research on the volcanology
Volcanology
Volcanology is the study of volcanoes, lava, magma, and related geological, geophysical and geochemical phenomena. The term volcanology is derived from the Latin word vulcan. Vulcan was the ancient Roman god of fire....
and paleomagnetism
Paleomagnetism
Paleomagnetism is the study of the record of the Earth's magnetic field in rocks. Certain minerals in rocks lock-in a record of the direction and intensity of the magnetic field when they form. This record provides information on the past behavior of Earth's magnetic field and the past location of...
of Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
. He supervised seven doctoral dissertations on the tectonics of the Italian Alps and several dissertations on hydrology (his chair was Economic Geology).
Van Bemmelen is known for his explanation of orogeny
Orogeny
Orogeny refers to forces and events leading to a severe structural deformation of the Earth's crust due to the engagement of tectonic plates. Response to such engagement results in the formation of long tracts of highly deformed rock called orogens or orogenic belts...
. In his book Mountain Building he postulated his Undation Theory. The mechanism behind orogeny was, according to Van Bemmelen, in the mantle
Mantle (geology)
The mantle is a part of a terrestrial planet or other rocky body large enough to have differentiation by density. The interior of the Earth, similar to the other terrestrial planets, is chemically divided into layers. The mantle is a highly viscous layer between the crust and the outer core....
. Due to geochemical
Geochemistry
The field of geochemistry involves study of the chemical composition of the Earth and other planets, chemical processes and reactions that govern the composition of rocks, water, and soils, and the cycles of matter and energy that transport the Earth's chemical components in time and space, and...
differentiation slight differences in density would lead to vertical flow in the mantle, resulting in orogeny. These ideas had to be adjusted with plate tectonics
Plate tectonics
Plate tectonics is a scientific theory that describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere...
as the mechanism of orogeny
Orogeny
Orogeny refers to forces and events leading to a severe structural deformation of the Earth's crust due to the engagement of tectonic plates. Response to such engagement results in the formation of long tracts of highly deformed rock called orogens or orogenic belts...
. In 1972 Van Bemmelen's book Geodynamic Models the Undation Theory was integrated in plate tectonics.
Published works
- Bemmelen, R. W. van (Reinout Willem van) The Geology of Indonesia The Hague : Govt. Printing Office, 1949. 2 volumes
Lolage
Further reading
- W.J.M. van der Linden: in Memoriam: Rein van Bemmelen, in 'Geologie en Mijnbouw' Vol 63 No. 1 (1984)
- P. Marks: Honderd jaar geologisch onderwijs aan de Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht
External links
- In Memoriam R. W. van Bemmelen, obituary