Berend Georg Escher

Escher (1947)

Berend George Escher (born April 4, 1885 in Gorinchem , † October 12, 1967 in Arnhem ) was a Dutch geologist and mineralogist.

Life

Berend Georg was born as the son of the Dutch hydraulic engineer George Arnold Escher and his wife Charlotte Marie de Hartitzsch. Escher had his first training in Leeuwarden and then in Aarau in Switzerland. He then studied at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich , where Albert Heim became his formative teacher. There he received his doctorate in 1911 with the thesis On the Preestarian Folding in the Western Alps with a special study of the carbon on the north side of the Tödi (Bifertengrätli), with an appendix on the Scheidnössli near Erstfeld in the Reuss Valley and the carbon from Manno near Lugano . For about a year he was Eugène Dubois' assistant in Amsterdam, where he also worked as a private lecturer in tectonic geology and petrography . In 1912 he followed an appointment as a conservator at the Technical University of Delft , where he worked as a private lecturer at the Institute of Mineral Studies. From 1913 to 1916 he worked in Heerlen , from where he made three trips to Romania to examine oil fields.

In July 1916 he found a job with the Batavian Petroleum Company, for which he completed geological research in the Dutch East Indies on Java , Sumatra , Borneo and Ceram. On February 25, 1922 he was appointed professor of geology and mineralogy at the University of Leiden. He took up his chair on October 11, 1922 with an introductory speech Oorzaak en verband der internal geological crashes (freely translated: cause and connection of internal geological forces ) and became director of the Rijksmuseum for geology and mineralogy in Leiden. He modernized the museum's holdings and issued some publications. His most important major work is his book De gedaanteveranderingen onzer aarde (freely translated: The Metamorphoses of the Earth ), published in 1916 and published eleven times . In 1934 and 1948 he revised the original version and brought out this book under the title Grondslagen der Algemene Geologie (freely translated: Fundamentals of General Geology ). It was a textbook for the non-specialist, which gave a basic overview of geology.

He had also developed a special fondness for exploring volcanism. During the occupation of the Second World War he took part in the Dutch resistance, so that he was taken to the hostage camp in Sint-Michielsgestel by the German occupiers in 1942 . Because of this, he resigned his chair. After the war he was able to resume teaching in Leiden on September 4, 1945, and in 1945/46 he took over the rectorate of the Alma Mater . In this function he participated in the reorganization of the Leiden University and awarded Winston Churchill on May 10, 1950 in the Pieterkirche in Leiden an honorary doctorate in law. On February 13, 1947, his teaching position was expanded to become a professor of general geology, crystallography and mineralogy. In the same year he was awarded the Knight of the Order of the Dutch Lion . From December 19, 1949, he limited himself to general geology and was retired on August 20, 1955. He spent the last years of his life in the Arnhem suburb of Oosterbeek, where he finally died. His funeral took place in silence on October 16.

His marriage to Emma Brosy on April 20, 1911 in Aarau (January 27, 1888 in Bern-1976) gave birth to the sons Rudolf Georg Escher (January 8, 1912 Amsterdam-March 17, 1980 in De Koog) and Edmond George Escher ( * 1916 in The Hague) and two daughters.

Works

• About the Pre-Rissian Folding in the Western Alps, with a special study of the carbon on the north side of the Toedi. 1911
• About the creation of the relief on the so-called "grooved stones". 1913
• Preliminary communication on the geology and petrography of the San Salvatore peninsula near Lugano. 1913
• Geology in tunnel construction. 1914
• De Krakatau groep as vulkaan. 1919
• Changes in the Krakataugroep in 1908 and in Wijzigingen in the opvating of some geological details. 1908
• L'eruption du Gounoung Galounggoung en Juillet 1918. 1920
• De kloet van een geomorphologic standpoint Beschouwd. 1919
• Excursie-gids voor Krakatau. 1919
• Atolls in the Nederlandsch-Oost-Indian archipelago. The reefs in the group of the Toekang Besi-eilanden. 1920
• De method of graphic presentation. 1924
• L'eboulement prehistorique de Tasikmalaja et le volcan Galouggoung (Java). 1925
• De ontwikkeling van de aardkorst. 1926
• Vesuvius, the Tengger Mountains and the Problem of Calderas. 1927
• Krakatau in 1883 en in 1928. 1928
• Geological nomenclature. 1929
• On the Formation of Caldera's. 1929
• Gloedwolken en Lahar's, volcanic catastrophes in Nederlandsch-Indre. 1931
• Over het Vulkanisme van Java in verband met de uitbarsting van den Merapi. 1931
• On the Relation Between the Volcanic Activity in the Netherlands East Indies and the Belt of Negative Gravity Anomalies Discovered by Vening Meinesz. 1933
• On a Classification of Central Eruptions According to Gas Pressure of the Magma and Viscosity of the Lava [and] On the Character of the Merapi Eruption in Central Java. 1933
• Algemene Mineralogie en Crystallography. 1935, 1950
• De method of graphic presentation. 1927, 1934
• De asymmetrical gedaante der aarde en hair oorzaak. 1946
• Lascaux as aanrakingspunt van geologie, praehistoire en art. 1952
• Over de mogelijkheid van dienstbaarmaking van vulkaangassen. no year

literature

• JJ Dozy: Escher, Berend George . In: Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland (BWN) 1880-2000. The Hague, 1979.
• REO Ekkart: Album Scholasticum Academiae Lugduno-Batavae MCMXL-MCMLXXIV. Leidsch Universiteits Fonds, Leiden, 1975, p. 29.
• P. Bok: Berend George Escher (PDF; 9.9 MB). In: Jaarboekje voor geschiedenis en oudheidkunde van Leiden en Omstreken. Leiden, 1968, pp. 19-21.