VELDE

NETHERLANDS (see also List of Individuals)

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22.11.1913 Utrecht/NL - 10.5.2001 Alblasserdam/NL

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Pieter A. van de Velde graduated as a civil engineer from the Delft University of Technology and in 1938 joined the Waterbouwkundig Laboratorium Delft, today's Delft Hydraulic Laboratory. From shortly later, van de Velde was in the staff of the Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch National Water Service. He was positioned in Terneuzen, s'Gravenhage and Breda. During the storm surges of the mid 1940s, he moved to Walcheren Island, to repair broken dikes. Later, in the mid 1950s, he was positioned in the Zeeland Province to improve dike works. From then, van de Velde contributed to the Deltaplan, Netherlands unique dike system preventing storm surges from entering his country. In 1967, van de Velde was appointed hydraulics professor at Delft Technical University.

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A large portion of the Netherlands are below the sea level, resulting in enormous floodings all through the history. The extreme 1953 flood caused almost 2000 fatalities among the population. From then, it was decided to erect the Deltaplan by setting up a dike system from Rotterdam to Antwerp in Belgium. The sea arms were closed and thereby reduced the length of wave attack. Two major problems in connection with this large works included the Dutch harbors, which had to be open except for storm weather, and the natural beauties of the Oosterschelt should be preserved, thus demanding the tidal sea action in this inland reserve. Engineers such as van de Velde contributed their knowledge to this project, which is also considered one of the modern world wonders. As for other engineering schemes, an absolute safety against flooding cannot be realized in relation to natural disasters. Until today, the Deltaplan withstood all attacks from the sea, however.

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_{Anonymous (2007). Pieter Abraham van de Velde. Personal communication.}

_{Velde, P.A. van de (1958). De afsluiting van het Haringvliet. De Ingenieur 70(B): 51-57. Velde, P.A. van de (1960). Het Deltaplan. Water 44(8): 89-92.}

_{Velde, P.A. van de (1964). De huidige stand van de deltawerken en de vooruitzichten. Het Ingenieursblad 33(4): 165-169. P}

_{Velde, P.A. van de (1967). Fortse en soeticheijt in de waterbouwkunde. Waltman: Delft. http://www.kuijsten.de/ar/2001/ar-121.html}