René Tavernier (geologist)

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René Tavernier

René Tavernier (born August 26, 1914 in Nevele , † November 19, 1992 in Gent , Belgium ) was a Belgian geologist . He was particularly concerned with stratigraphy .

He was Professor of Geology at the University of Ghent , a corresponding member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Arts , and one of the founders of the Belgian Bodemkundige Vereniging .

He was involved in the preparation of a soil classification and the implementation of soil maps for Belgium and the European Community. He founded the “Internationaal Bodemkundig Centrum” at the Imperial University of Ghent for students from developing countries, and he succeeded in demonstrating the importance of geological knowledge for the major agricultural development projects.

Life

René Tavernier was the son of a veterinarian. He attended the Sint-Lievenscollege in Ghent and then studied mineralogy at the Imperial University of Ghent. His academic career began in 1937 when he was appointed assistant to the Mineralogy Laboratory at the University of Ghent.

After receiving his doctorate, he became a substitute lecturer for the “physical aardrijkskunde” course (geosciences). In 1943 he became team leader, and a year later he was appointed lecturer for the “Laboratorium van Fysische Aardrijkskunde”, where in 1948 he was appointed university professor.

At the beginning of his career he taught only in physical geography, but in 1952 he expanded his teaching activities to include geology. From 1955 he was commissioned to teach purely geological subjects.

From 1943 to 1950 he also worked for the “Belgian Geological Service”, for which he supplied the Allies with drinking water and supplied them with cooling water for the heavy anti-aircraft artillery.

Tavernier became a corresponding member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and Arts on October 8, 1955, a full member on September 20, 1958, and a board member in 1976.

Subsequently he was appointed a member of the Royal Academy of Overseas Sciences. He was also a member of the International Union of Soil Sciences (IUSS). He was elected chairman of the IUSS from 1950 to 1954 and an honorary member in 1986.

Tavernier was a founding member of the “Belgische Bodemkundige Vereniging” and from 1950 to 1958 fulfilled the function of general secretary. He was also involved in the establishment of the Koninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap, the American “Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists” and the “Koninklijke Zweedse Academie voor Land- en bosbouw” and was a corresponding member of the “Académie d'Agriculture de France”. He was also commander of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg .

His work

René Tavernier received the Mac Leod Prize for his licentiate thesis in 1935, named after Julius Mac Leod, professor at the University of Ghent. In 1948 his doctoral thesis was crowned with the Baron van Ertborn Prize. Both dissertations were studies of the Neogene deposits in Belgium. The Neogene sands were explored based on their heavy mineral content. In this way René Tavernier was able to distinguish between the marine and continental sands of Lower Belgium, but also to determine the area of ​​origin of these sands.

His interest in geology related to the sedimentology of the Cenozoic formations of the North Sea basin, the Quaternary in Belgium, the fossil periglacial structures, the development of the Scheldt basin during the Quaternary and the coastal area during the Holocene, sea level fluctuations, etc.

The “Comité voor de Opname van de Bodem- en Vegetatiekaart van België” was founded on the initiative of Professor Victor Van Straelen . The project, which started in 1947, was funded by the “Instituut tot Aanmoediging van het Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek in Nijverheid en Landbouw” (IWONL). As for the soil maps, the recordings were initially carried out in collaboration with three centers: Leuven, Gembloux and Gent. As the person in charge of the center in Ghent, René Tavernier saw coordination as a very important factor right from the start. His aim was to create a national center. From 1950 Tavernier became director of the “Centrum voor Bodemkartering” (CVB), whose main objectives were the recording of the soil maps, the elaboration of a uniform legend and the coordination of these activities at national level. This work was crowned in 1968 with the ten-year award for geological sciences. The CVB remained active until its dissolution in 1976.

In 1950 René Tavernier took part in the organization of the 4th Congress of the International Soil Science Society in Amsterdam. At this meeting he was elected Chairman of the ISSS. On the occasion of the fifth ISSS conference, which took place in Léopoldville (Kinshasa) in 1954, he worked in collaboration with the “Nationaal Instituut voor Landbouwstudies in Belgian Congo (INEAC-NILCO)” on a classification system for tropical soils. From 1951 René Tavernier also worked together with the USDA Soil Conservation Service on the preparation of a soil taxonomy.

Between 1952 and 1958 he was a member of the Geological Council and was commissioned to set up the stratigraphic scale of the Quaternary. In 1957 Jean de Heinzelin de Braucourt and René Tavernier named the Holocene “Flandria” due to sediments from the transgression in Flanders. "Flanders" is no longer in use.

In 1958 René Tavernier was a member of the governing committee of the “Nationaal Instituut voor Landbouwstudies in Belgian Congo” (INEAC-NILCO). In 1960 he headed the “Internationaal Bodemkundig Centrum” at the University of Ghent. This center, serving the developing world, started a postgraduate course in 1963. He succeeded in demonstrating the importance of geological findings in important agricultural development projects.

Within the European Community (EC), he was asked in 1980 to draw up a soil map of the EC on a scale of 1 to 1,000,000. This work was completed in 1985.

Publications

A list of Tavernier's publications in book and article form can be found on Liber memorialis (PDF) Rijksuniversiteit te Gent, 1960, pp. 231–234. A list of the works in the collection of the Ghent University Library, Ugent, without claiming to be exhaustive, on the UGent digital catalog .

literature

  • Donald Gabriels: In memoriam René J. Tavernier . (PDF) In: IUSS Bulletin , 82-83 (1992-1993), pp. 91-92.
  • Eric Groessens, Marie-Claire Groessens-Van Dyck: De Aardwetenschappen . In: Robert Halleux et al. (red.): Geschiedenis van de wetenschappen in België, 1815–2000 . Vol. 2, Dexia / La Renaissance du Livre, Brussel 2001, pp. 219-233.
  • Fernand Geukens: In memoriam René Tavernier . In: Jaarboek 1993-1996 , KVAB, Brussel, pp. 99-100.
  • Tavernier René . In: De Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor wetenschappen en kunsten en hair leden , Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor wetenschappen en kunsten, 2010, pp. 251-252.
  • Theo Luykx (red.): René Tavernier . (PDF) In: Liber memorialis Rijksuniversiteit te Gent , 1960, pp. 229–234.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Fernand Geukens: In Memoriam René Tavernier . In: Jaarboek 1993-1996 . KVAB, Brussel, pp. 99-100.
  2. ↑ a b Tavernier René . In: De Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor wetenschappen en kunsten en hair leden . Koninklijke Vlaamse Academie van België voor wetenschappen en kunsten, Brussel 2010, pp. 251-252
  3. ^ IUSS Honorary members .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) In: IUSS Bulletin , 115, 2009, p. 46@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.iuss.org  
  4. ^ Prijs Mac Leod, Julius Mac Leod (1857-1919).
  5. ↑ Baron van Ertbornpreis, Baron Octave van Ertborn (1839-1909) (Bestor) (ODIS)
  6. ↑ Instituut tot Aanmoediging van het Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek in Nijverheid en Landbouw (IWONL).
  7. ↑ E. Van Ranst, C. Sys: Eenduidige legende voor de digital bodemkaart van Vlaanderen (schaal 1:20 000) . (PDF) accessed August 2, 2014.
  8. ↑ Éric Groessens, Marie-Claire Groessens-Van Dyck: De Aardwetenschappen . In: Robert Halleux et al. (red.): Histoire des sciences en Belgique, 1815-2000 . vol. 2. Dexia / La Renaissance du Livre, Brussel 2001, p. 223.
  9. ↑ Stratigraphy . ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved August 2, 2014. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wtkg.org
personal data
SURNAME Tavernier, René
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Belgian geologist and also dealt with stratigraphy
DATE OF BIRTH August 26, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Nevele
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1992
Place of death Ghent , Belgium