DeepEarthScience

A colleague of mine pointed me to a PhD dissertation of Petrus van Galen. He wrote this dissertation in 1830 and two copies can be found in the Tresor of the TU Delft Library. The title of this dissertation is “ Disputatio Mathematica Inauguralis d e Pendulo Ejusque Applicatione ad Telluris Figuram Determinandam ”. Loosely translated: A Mathematical Essay about the Pendulum and its Application to Determine the Figure of the Earth. Of course, as soon I heard about this, I made an appointment with the librarian responsible for the collection in the Tresor for a viewing session. I also found a  link  in Google books, showing almost the complete dissertation, but I wanted to smell the old pages. Furthermore, the appendices of the dissertation were not scanned properly, so the data, that Petrus van Galen used, were not yet available to me. A week later, I cycled to the Library (appointed as one of the 10 most beautiful libraries of the world and known very well to me due to th

Few weeks ago, I visited the Queen of the Hebrides, or better known as the isle of Islay. My dad and I organised the trip for some friends of ours with the main objective to show them the many beauties of the island. Two years ago my dad and I made a ‘reconnaissance’ trip to explore those beauties.  Machir Bay viewed from the old abandon RAF radio station. Photo credit: Maurits Kok. Being true to my blog, which is a more scientific-orientated blog, I will not make this post a travellers log, but lets just say we visited several distilleries (even one that is now under construction), enjoyed the cuisine (which was quite high standards in the hotel we stayed), and made many long walks through the fantastic and overwhelming landscapes of the Scottish island. This island keeps surprising me with its fascinating history, incredible geology, and beautiful whiskies. Whisky Wharehouse tasting at Bruichladdich. Photo credit: Maurits Kok Before the trip I bought a book about the