Gustaaf Adolf Frederik Molengraaff
Gustaaf Adolf Frederik Molengraaff (born February 27, 1860 in Nijmegen , † March 26, 1942 in Wassenaar ) was a Dutch geologist who dealt with the geology of South Africa and was a leading expert on the geology of Indonesia at the time.
Life
Molengraaff studied mathematics and physics at the University of Leiden and from 1882 geology at the University of Utrecht . While still a student he joined the expedition of WFR Suringar and K. Martin to the Netherlands Antilles and did his doctorate on the geology of Sint Eustatius . He then continued his studies in Munich, from where he also explored the Alps. From 1888 he conducted research at the University of Amsterdam , where he was the first to teach full-time geology - before that, the chemist Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff also gave geology lectures on the side . In 1891 he studied gold deposits in South Africa and in 1894 he explored Borneo .
From 1897 he was a state geologist in the Transvaal in South Africa, where he mapped in the Permian Karoo system . He discovered the Bushveld complex there . During the Second Boer War, he had to return to the Netherlands in 1900 and used the time for an expedition to Celebes . In 1901 he was back in South Africa as a consulting geologist, where he described the Cullinan diamond , among other things .
In 1906 he became a professor at the TH Delft , where, in contrast to Amsterdam, he found more reasonable working conditions in terms of the number of students and research funds. Molengraaff undertook an expedition to Timor from 1910 to 1911 , which he then evaluated with his students in Delft for many years. With WAJM van Waterschoot van der Gracht (1873-1943) he also dealt with the geology of the Netherlands.
In 1910 he was elected deputy chairman of the newly founded Geological Association . In 1921 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , in 1925 to the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina . In 1927 he was one of the leaders in the Shaler Memorial Expedition at Harvard University in South Africa, where he also met Alexander Du Toit .
Molengraaf supported early the continental drift hypothesis of Alfred Wegener , which he considered a good explanation for various geological aspects in South Africa and Indonesia. Among other things to explain the Dwyka conglomerate (in the lower Karoo system in the Transvaal) as a glacial moraine formation of the Permian. In particular, however, he found indications of continental drift in the geology of Indonesia, both on land and submarine, and acknowledged this in a publication in 1916. In 1920 he presented these theses in a lecture at the Royal Geographical Society in London. Molengraaf also exchanged views with South African geologists such as Alexander du Toit and the Americans Frederick E. Wright (1867–1953) and Reginald A. Daly (1871–1957), who also conduct research in South Africa .
Hendrik Albertus Brouwer is one of his students .
literature
- Frederik R. van Veen Gustaaf Molengraaff, een avontuurlijk leererde , Delft University Press 2004, ISBN 90-407-2433-4
- HA Brouwer, 1942: Levensbericht van Gustaaf Adolf Frederik Molengraaff, Jaarboek of the KNAW (Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences), 1941–1942
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Member entry of Gustav Adolf Frederik Molengraaff at the German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina , accessed on February 15, 2015.
- ↑ Naomi Oreskes : The rejection of continental drift. theory and method in American earth science . Oxford University Press , New York, NY 1999
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Molengraaff, Gustaaf Adolf Frederik |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch geologist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 27, 1860 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Nijmegen |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 26, 1942 |
| Place of death | Wassenaar |