Vening Meinesz with his gravimeter

Felix Andries Vening Meinesz (the Hague July 30, 1887 - Amersfoort August 10, 1966) was a Dutch geophysicist and geodetist. He is known for his invention of a precise method for measuring gravity. Thanks to his invention, it became possible to measure gravity at sea, which led him to the discovery of gravity anomalies above the ocean floor. He later attributed these anomalies to continental drift. Arms of The Hague Flag of The city of The Hague. ... July 30 is the 211th day (212th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 154 days remaining. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands. ... August 10 is the 222nd day of the year (223rd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1966 (MCMLXVI) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1966 calendar). ... ‹ The template below has been proposed for deletion. ... It has been suggested that geodetic system be merged into this article or section. ... Gravity is a force of attraction that acts between bodies that have mass. ... The concept of continental drift was first proposed by Alfred Wegener. ...

Named after him are:

• a gravimeter, an apparatus to measure gravity
• a mathematical function used in geodesy
• a medal of the European Geofysics Society
• a research school at Utrecht University
• Vening Meinesz crater on the Moon.

An accelerometer or gravimeter is a device for measuring acceleration and the effects of gravity. ... Utrecht University (Universiteit Utrecht in Dutch) is a university in Utrecht, The Netherlands. ... Moon is the current Good Article Collaboration of the week! Please help to improve this article to the highest of standards. ...

Biography

Vening Meinesz' father, Sjoerd Anne Meinesz, was major, first of Rotterdam, then of Amsterdam. He grew up in a protected environment. In 1910 he graduated in civil engineering at Delft. The same year he started working for the Dutch gravitational survey. In 1915 he wrote his dissertation on the defects of the gravimeters used at that time. Rotterdam Location Flag Country The Netherlands Province South Holland Population 588,718 (2006) Coordinates 51° 55 N.; 4° 30 E. Website www. ... Amsterdam Location Flag Country Netherlands Province North Holland Population 742,951(1 January 2005) Demonym Amsterdammer Coordinates Website www. ... Delft is a city in South Holland (Zuid-Holland), the Netherlands, located halfway between Rotterdam and The Hague (Den Haag). ... This article is about the thesis in dialectics and academia. ...

Vening Meinesz then designed a new gravimeter, which the KNMI (Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute) built. The apparatus has two pendula of the same size hanging in a frame but moving in opposite phases. With mirrors and lightbeams the difference in amplitude of the two pendula is captured on a film. Vening Meinesz had discovered that horizontal accelerations (as by waves on a boat) had no influence on the difference in amplitude between the two pendula. The recorded difference then is the amplitude of a theoratical, undisturbed pendulum. Now it became possible to measure gravity more accurately. Vening Meinesz started with measuring gravity all over the Netherlands, for which a network of 51 monitoring stations was created. This became a success, which encouraged him to do measurements at sea. A perfected gravimeter, hanging in a 'swing', was designed. The experiment was successful. Short for Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut (Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute). ... For other uses, see Pendulum (disambiguation). ...

Now measuring gravity at sea had become possible. Between 1923 and 1929 the tall (over 2 metres) Vening Meinesz embarked in small submarines for some uncomfortable expeditions. His goal was to establish the exact shape of the geoid and the Earth. When one of his expeditions was made into a movie in 1935, Vening Meinesz became a hero of the Dutch cinema public. Besides, his research was in the international scientific spotlight. In 1927 he become a parttime professor in geodesy, cartography and geophysics at Utrecht University, and in 1937 he became professor at the Delft University of Technology as well. The GOCE project will measure high-accuracy gravity gradients and provide an accurate geoid model based on the Earths gravity field. ... Cartography or mapmaking (in Greek chartis = map and graphein = write) is the study and practice of making maps or globes. ... Utrecht University (Universiteit Utrecht in Dutch) is a university in Utrecht, The Netherlands. ... Founded in 1842, the Delft University of Technology, in Delft, the Netherlands, is one of the oldest, largest, and most comprehensive technical universities in the Netherlands, with over 13,000 students and 2,100 scientists (including 200 professors). ...

In World War II, Vening Meinesz was involved in the Dutch resistance. After the war he could take up his tasks as a professor again. From 1945 to 1951 he was the director of the KNMI. He retired in 1957. This article is becoming very long. ...

Research and Discoveries

The vast amounts of data that his expeditions yielded were analyzed and discussed together with other leading Dutch Earth scientists of the time J.H.F. Umbgrove, B.G. Escher and Ph.H. Kuenen, the results were published in 1948. An important result was the discovery of elongated belts of negative gravity anomalies along the oceanic trenches. The mean gravity force appeared to be the same on land and at sea, which was in agreement with the principle of isostasy. Vening Meinesz was especially intrigued by the oceanic trenches. The coexisitence of active volcanism, large negative gravity anomalies and the sudden difference in terrain elevation could only be explained by assuming the Earth's crust was somehow pushed together at these places. As a geophysicist, he was prejudiced that the crust was to rigid to deform at that scale in such a way. His discoveries could be explained only with the development of the theory of plate tectonics in the '50s. Earth science (also known as geoscience or the geosciences), is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. ... Berend George Escher Berend George Escher (April 4, 1885 Gorinchem - October 11, 1967 Arnhem) was a Dutch geologist. ... The oceanic trenches are hemispheric-scale long but narrow topographic depressions of the sea floor. ... Isostasy is a term used in Geology to refer to the state of gravitational equilibrium between the Earths lithosphere and asthenosphere such that the tectonic plates float at an elevation which depends on their thickness and density. ... This article is about volcanoes in geology. ... Earth cutaway from core to exosphere. ... Bridge across the Álfagjá rift valley in southwest Iceland, the boundary of the Eurasian and North American continental tectonic plates. ...

External link

[Vening Meinesz Research School of Geodynamics at Utrecht University]