Rogier Verbeek

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Dr. Ir. Rogier Diederik Marius Verbeek (7 April 1845, Doorn - 9 April 1926, The Hague) was a Dutch geologist and nature scientist.

"Krakatau", edited in 1884 and 1885 by order of the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, is the most known work of this internationally praised geologist. It deals with the eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in 1883 and brought volcanology in a scientific acceleration (the drawings in the book have been manufactured by J.G. de Groot from Brussels). Just two years previously Verbeek had done research in the area. Living in Buitenzorg on Java, he was moreover a direct witness of the eruption. In the BBC docu-drama "Krakatoa - The Last Days" he is the main protagonist.

Some other writings of Verbeek are:

Topographische en geologische Beschrijving van een Deel van Sumatra's Westkust, Batavia, 1883.
Geologische beschrijving van Java en Madoera, Amsterdam, 1896. Written together with R. Fennema, by order of the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies.
De eilanden Alor en Pantar, residentie Timor en onderhoorigheden, Amsterdam, 1914, on behalf of the Koninklijk Nederlands Aardrijkskundig Genootschap.
De vulkanische erupties in Oost-Java in het laatst der 6de eeuw, Verhandelingen van het Genootschap, 1925.

In 1909, he obtained an honorary doctorate of the Delft University of Technology. He also was an honorary member of the Koninklijk Nederlands Geologisch Mijnbouwkundig Genootschap. Furthermore he was a member of the Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde.

A cousin of Verbeek was named Dr. Ir. Reinier D. Verbeek, who happened to be a geologist as well. Their characters and conceptions where however sufficiently differing to keep them apart.