Around the world with Prof Vening Meinesz
Description
On a cold winter day, 21 November 1934, Professor Vening Meinesz turned on his pendulum device. A few minutes earlier, the submarine, Her Majesty's K-XVIII, was diving to a depth of 30 metres. This observation would be the 500th measurement of a long series of observations. The new dataset would help unravel many new mysteries about our planet. This expedition was the largest part of Vening Meinesz's life's work published in scientific papers bundled in four volumes: 'Gravity Expeditions at Sea'. During the expeditions, the professor took with him his specially designed pendulum device, also known as 'The Golden Calf'.
During the early 1900s, the earth's gravitational field had only been measured on land. The classical single-slinger instrument needed a stable surface. This was not feasible on ships. As a result, 73 per cent of Earth's gravity field was still unknown to the geodetic community. A young civil engineer from the Technische Hogeschool in Delft would change this.
After receiving his PhD (with honours) from TH Delft in March 1915, the young doctor Felix Andries Vening Meinesz was given the task by the Rijkscommissie voor Graadmeting to set up the first Dutch gravity reference network. For this project, he needed an instrument that could determine the gravity field with the highest accuracy. This device proved so effective in removing external motion from the measurements that Vening Meinesz decided to use it in submarines. This opened the possibility for oceanographic gravity research, leading to many discoveries for the theory of plate tectonics.
During this presentation, you will follow Vening Meinesz, along with Captain Hetterschij and his crew, aboard the Harer Majesty K-XVIII. From Den Helder to Surabaya, they sailed past and over interesting geological and geodetic sites and we will learn how Venig Meinesz was able to use gravity measurements to determine the shape of the earth. Will you join us on this adventure across our Earth's oceans?
Speaker(s)
Bart Root received his Master's degree from TUDelft at the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering in 2012. His master thesis was titled, Validating and improving the orbit determination of Cryosat-2. During his studies, he also worked at EADS Astrium in Friedrichshafen, Germany on the flight simulator and post-processing software of ESA's SWARM mission. Cryosat-2 and SWARM were both Earth-centric research satellites.
Inspired by Earth-centric satellite research, he started his PhD in the same year at the Astrodynamics and Space Missions group, TU Delft. The NWO-sponsored research proposal was called: Lithospheric and Upper Mantle Structures in Northwestern Europe derived by Satellite Gravimetry. The aim of this research is to combine global (satellite) gravity data with subsurface seismic models to better predict the movement of our Earth's crust through postglacial uplift. He hopes to defend this work before a PhD committee within a few months. During his time as a PhD student, he also worked on a project on Prof Vening Meinesz's work aboard the K-XVIII. See link.
Location
Mijnbouwstraat 120, 2628 RX Delft
Organiser
History of Technology
Histechnica
Name and contact details for information
Further information at dr.ir. Paul van Woerkom (tel. 070 - 3070275 in the evening) or via the e-mail address below