Berend George Escher
4904078
170441655
2007-11-10T00:02:50Z
CanisRufus
91310
dab: Mantle
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'''Berend George Escher''' ([[April 4]] [[1885]] [[Gorinchem]] - [[October 11]] [[1967]] [[Arnhem]]) was a [[the Netherlands|Dutch]] [[geologist]].
Escher had a broad interest, but his research was mainly on [[crystallography]], [[mineralogy]] and [[volcanology]]. He was a pioneer in [[experiment]]al geology. He was a half-brother of the [[artist]] [[Maurits Cornelis Escher|M.C. Escher]], and had some influence on his work due to his knowledge of crystallography.
Escher was the son of [[George Arnold Escher|G.A. Escher]], a director of the Dutch watermanagement ('''s Rijkswaterstaat''). Escher spent his youth in [[Switzerland]]. He studied geology at the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (Technical University) of [[Zürich]], where he was a pupil of [[Albert Heim]]. He finished his studies in 1911 and returned to [[the Netherlands]] where he first became the assistant of [[Eugène Dubois|M.E.F.T. Dubois]] at the [[University of Amsterdam]] and then [[curator]] of the geological collections at [[Delft University]]. In 1916 he was employed by [[Royal Dutch Shell]] in the [[Dutch East Indies]].
Escher became professor at [[Leiden University]] in 1922, at the same time he became director of the geological museum there, he was the successor of [[Karl Martin|K. Martin]] in that position. Whereas Martin's interest lay mainly with [[paleontology]] and [[stratigraphy]], Escher was in the first place mineralogist. In [[Leiden]] he reorganized the museum by giving more attention to educating the general public in geology. He wrote books on geology, mineralogy and crystallography, scientific as well as for the general public.
His research area was mainly volcanology. He was also interested in the geology of the [[Moon]]. Of importance were his contributions in discussions with [[Felix Andries Vening Meinesz|F.A. Vening Meinesz]], [[Philip Henry Kuenen|Ph.H. Kuenen]] and [[Johannes Herman Frederik Umbgrove|J.H.F. Umbgrove]] on zones of negative [[gravitation]]al [[anomaly|anomalies]], which they explained by assuming that [[convection]] took place in the [[Mantle (geology)|mantle]]. Eschers' contribution was to research volcanism at these zones. He was also pioneer in using [[experiment]]s to solve geological questions, for which he set up a [[laboratory]] in Leiden.
During the [[Germany|German]] occupation of the Netherlands in [[World War II]], Escher was kept captive by the [[nazi]]s for some time. After his release he went in hiding till the liberation in 1945. When Leiden University reopened he became [[rector magnificus]]. He retired in 1955.
==Sources==
*A.J. Pannekoek, 1962: ''Geological research at the universities of The Netherlands, 1877-1962'' in Geologie & Mijnbouw, vol. 41 no. 4 p. 161-174
*''Rijksmuseum van Geologie en Mineralogie 1878-1978'' (Scripta Geologica 48)
*[http://www.inghist.nl/Onderzoek/Projecten/BWN/lemmata/bwn1/escher Biografical dictionary of the Netherlands (in Dutch)]}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Escher, Berend George}}
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1967 deaths]]
[[Category:Dutch geologists]]
[[Category:People from Gorinchem]]
[[nl:Berend George Escher]]