Philip Henry Kuenen

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Philip Henry Kuenen (July 22, 1902 Dundee - December 17, 1976 Leiden) was a Dutch geologist.

Kuenen spent his earliest youth in Scotland, his father was professor in physics. He studied geology at Leiden University, where he was a pupil of K. Martin and B.G. Escher. He finished his studies in 1925 and then became assistant to Escher. He worked on paleontology and experimental geology.

In 1929-1930 Kuenen participated in the Snellius expedition to the seas surrounding the Sunda Islands of the Dutch East Indies. In 1934 he became lecturer at Groningen University. Because the Dutch government had decided that geology would not be a major subject at Groningen University Kuenen was able to dedicate most of his time to research. Only in 1946 he became a full professor, during the German occupation in World War II the nazis had prevented this because he had British ancestors.

Kuenen is known for his work on marine geology and he published a book on the subject. Some of his other contributions to geology were geochemical calculations about sediments and the water cycle and research on absolute and relative sea level changes, the rounding of sedimentparticles, normal faulting in the continental slope domain and especially turbidites. He studied the latter through experiments as well as in geological outcrops.

In 1970 the Doeglas commission advised the Dutch government to stop all geological research in Groningen, and to concentrate geological research at other universities. Kuenen was a big opponent of this plan but could not prevent it. After a neural attack in 1970, he retired in 1972.

[edit] Sources

• L.M.J.U. van Straaten, 1977: In memoriam Ph. H. Kuenen in Geologie & Mijnbouw 56 (1), p 1-3
• A.J. Pannekoek, 1962: Geological research at the universities of The Netherlands, 1877-1962 in Geologie & Mijnbouw, vol. 41 no. 4 p. 161-174