Background
Felix Andries Vening Meinesz was born on July 30, 1887, in Scheveningen, the Hague.
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(The Earth's Crust and Mantle presents the deformations of...)
The Earth's Crust and Mantle presents the deformations of the Earth's crust, which are attributed to mantle currents. This book explores the gravity observations, which give indications about the way in which the masses in the Earth are distributed. Comprised of five chapters, this book starts with an overview of the constitution of the various parts of the Earth and mentions the densities concerned. This text then discusses the thermal behavior of the Earth as well as examines the principle of isostasy and the readjustments of isostatic equilibrium. Other chapters examine the general effects of horizontal compression of the rigid crust and the fields of positive gravity anomalies. This book discusses as well the effects of active volcanicity, which is one source of disturbances of equilibrium of the Earth. The final chapter deals with the oceanic parts of the crust. This book is a valuable resource for geologists, geophysicists, physical geographers, and physical geodesists.
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Felix Andries Vening Meinesz was born on July 30, 1887, in Scheveningen, the Hague.
He attended the public schools in Amsterdam, and in 1910 obtained his diploma in civil engineering from the Technical University in Delft.
He was first employed with the Geodetic Commission of the Netherlands, his task being to continue the gravimetric survey of the country with the aid of the contemporary pendulum instruments. The unstable soil of the Netherlands proved a serious handicap, and it was impossible to attain the desired accuracy. Vening Meinesz tried to eliminate the disturbing movements of the soil by using two pendulums swinging from the same support. His experiments, combined with a mathematical analysis of the sway of the entire system, proved very successful. Further experiments, carried out aboard submarines, resulted in the construction of the improved Vening Meinesz pendulum apparatus, which, for the first time in the history of geodesy, made possible the precise measurements of gravity on the oceans.
During the years 1923-1939 Vening Meinesz made 11 long journeys in submarines with his apparatus, cruising all oceans and especially in the East Indian Archipelago. At the same time, he expanded the mathematical theory which was used to convert the physical information about the gravity field to geometric information about the shape of the earth. In this way, the solution of the fundamental problem of scientific geodesy, that is, the mapping of the entire earth in one comprehensive system, was made possible both theoretically and practically. Only the use of artificial satellites can rival, to some extent, the gravimetric method initiated by the efforts of Vening Meinesz.
Meanwhile, Vening Meinesz's scientific interest was directed into deeper things. From his gravity maps of East India he found a long narrow strip of negative anomalies which he interpreted to be the first visible sign of a future mountain range. His investigations of this dealt with the internal structure and currents of the earth, the isostatic compensation of topographic formations, and the upheaval of the mountain ranges. Other, later discoveries in the field of geophysics gave plenty of support to his theories.
Vening Meinesz taught geodesy, cartography, and geophysics at the State University in Utrecht and at the Technical University in Delft. He was also the director of the Institute of Meteorology (1945-1951) and the president of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (1948-1951). On August 12, 1966, Felix Andries Vening Meinesz died in Amersfoort, Netherlands.
Felix Andries Vening Meinesz was a prominent geodesist and geophysicist who pioneered in the field of gravity measurements.
In 1936 Vening Meinesz was awarded the Howard N. Potts Medal. In 1945 he received the Penrose Medal. Two years later he was awarded the William Bowie Medal. The same year Meinesz received the Alexander Agassiz Medal. In 1962 he was awarded the Vetlesen Prize. He received the Wollaston Medal in 1963.
A gravimeter, an apparatus to measure gravity, a mathematical function used in geodesy, a medal of the European Geophysical Society, a research school at Utrecht University and the crater Vening Meinesz on the Moon are named after him.
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(The Earth's Crust and Mantle presents the deformations of...)
In 1927 Felix Andries Vening Meinesz became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Also he was a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Sjoerd Anne Vening Meinesz was the burgemeester in Amsterdam.
