Prof. Dr. Thomas Van Der Hammen (1924–2010)

UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) Obituary Prof. Dr. Thomas van der Hammen (1924-2010) Hooghiemstra, H.; van Geel, B.; Cleef, A.M. DOI 10.1016/j.revpalbo.2010.06.002 Publication date 2010 Document Version Final published version Published in Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Hooghiemstra, H., van Geel, B., & Cleef, A. M. (2010). Obituary Prof. Dr. Thomas van der Hammen (1924-2010). Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 162(2), 116-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.revpalbo.2010.06.002 General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). 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UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:25 Sep 2021 Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 162 (2010) 116–118 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/revpalbo Obituary Prof. Dr. Thomas van der Hammen (1924–2010) Geologist and palaeoecologist Thomas van der Hammen died at his the eastern part of the Netherlands where ice-pushed topography and home in Chia, Colombia, on 10 March 2010, following a long struggle eolian cover sands dominate the landscape. At the same time he with cancer. His studies have fundamentally changed our perception extended his research in tropical palynology with exploratory studies of the dynamic history of tropical ecosystems in South America. in Guyana, Suriname, and in the Amazon Basin. Born in the Netherlands in 1924 Thomas developed a great interest In 1966 Thomas moved to the University of Amsterdam where he was in the enjoyment and protection of nature: by 1939 he already had his appointed professor in palynology. He was based at the Hugo de Vries- first publication in a popular Dutch journal with the focus on vegetation Laboratory and under this banner he developed many research projects. science. After the Second World War he studied geology at Leiden A dozen of Colombian PhD students came to visit Amsterdam and University. He was trained as a palynologist by Professor Frans graduated under the supervision of Thomas. They were trained in topics Florschütz and he had regular contacts with other founding fathers of such as geology, biostratigraphy, climate history, vegetation analysis, and the discipline of palynology such as Johannes Iversen and Robert vegetational and geological mapping. Most field work areas were located Potonié. The topic of his PhD dissertation ‘Late-glacial flora and in Brazilian and Colombian Amazonia, the Colombian Andes, and periglacial phenomena in the Netherlands’ marked out a subject that Venezuela. Employing his ability of getting people to work in teams he would remain of interest to him for the rest of his life. In 1951 he started designed the large ‘Ecoandes Project’ in the 1970s and the ‘Tropenbos working for the Geological Survey in Colombia and did pioneering Colombia Programme’ in the 1970s. The Ecoandes Project focused on research on Cretaceous and Cenozoic sediments by integrating geology integrated palaeo/actuo-ecological research of transects across different and biology. Through his trade mark of a multidisciplinary approach, he sectors of the Colombian Andes. These unprecedented studies resulted in unraveled the stages of tectonic uplift of the Andes. Later, he and his co- seven volumes of the book series Studies of Tropical Andean Ecosystems workers were able to make a link with the evolution of the montane published by Cramer/Borntraeger in Germany. In the Tropenbos Colombia forest and páramo vegetation of the Northern Andes. Programme studies focused on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from In 1959 Thomas van der Hammen returned to the Netherlands to fishery, plant systematics, floristic inventories, sociogeographical studies, work at the Department of Geology of Leiden University. He archaeology, anthropology, palaeoecology, and tropical vegetation developed a research line in palaeoecology and climate history in ecology. These studies resulted in 20 volumes of the book series Studies Professor Thomas van der Hammen explaining the Pleistocene geology of the high plain of Bogotá during a student excursion in 1997 (photograph: H. Hooghiemstra). doi:10.1016/j.revpalbo.2010.06.002 Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 162 (2010) 116–118 117 on the Colombian Amazonia published by the Tropenbos-Colombia Office Van der Hammen, T., González, E., 1960a. Upper Pleistocene and Holocene climate and ‘ ’ fi vegetation of the Sabana de Bogotá (Colombia, South America). Leidse in Bogotá. With the aim of promoting the distribution of scienti cresults Geologische Mededelingen 25, 261–315. among Colombian institutes and colleagues around the world, he started Van der Hammen, T., González, E., 1960b. Holocene and Late Glacial climate and in 1973 the series El Cuaternario de Colombia/The Quaternary of Colombia, vegetation of Páramo de Palacio (Eastern Cordillera, Colombia, South America). Geologie en Mijnbouw 39 (12), 737–746. which he edited up to volume 20 (1995). Van der Hammen, T., 1963. A palynological study on the Quaternary of British Guiana. Perhaps his most valuable scientific contributions were his studies Leidse Geologische Mededelingen 29, 125–180. on the understanding of the history of Pleistocene climate change. Van der Hammen, T., González, E., 1964. A pollen diagram from the Quaternary of the fi Trained in climate history issues of Western Europe he showed that Sabana de Bogotá (Colombia) and its signi cance for the geology of the Northern Andes. Geologie en Mijnbouw 43 (3), 113–117. the neotropics had also experienced a dynamic history of climate Van der Hammen, T., Wijmstra, T.A., 1964. A palynological study on the Tertiary and change. Thomas van der Hammen discovered the immense value of Upper Cretaceous of British Guiana. Leidse Geologische Mededelingen 30, 183–241. the pollen archives in the deep intra-Andean basins. He studied the Van der Hammen, T., González, E., 1965. A Late-glacial and Holocene pollen diagram from fi Ciénaga del Visitador (Dept. Boyacá, Colombia). Leidse Geologische Mededelingen 32, rst deep bore holes in the Bogotá Basin and the Fúquene Basin and 193–201. developed the basis of later studies on continental pollen records from Van der Hammen, T., 1965. The age of the Mondoñedo formation and the Mastodon Colombia showing long-term change. fauna of Mosquera (Sabana de Bogotá). Geologie en Mijnbouw 44 (11), 384–390. Van der Hammen, T., Vogel, J.C., 1966. The Susacá-interstadial and the subdivision of He lectured at Amsterdam University for two decades and inspired the Late-glacial. Geologie en Mijnbouw 45 (2), 33–35. generations of Dutch students. He was on the advisory board of the Wijmstra, T.A., van der Hammen, T., 1966. Palynological data on the history of tropical natural history museum Natura Docet in Denekamp for a long time savannas in Northern South America. Leidse Geologische Mededelingen 38, 71–90. where he guided the establishment of the nature reserve Het Molenven Van der Hammen, T., Wijmstra, T.A. (Eds.), 1971. The Upper Quaternary of the Dinkel Valley (Twente, Eastern Overijssel, The Netherlands): Mededelingen Rijks as a key forest reserve. He played an active role in developing inter- Geologische Dienst N.S. 22, pp. 55–214. national structures for nature assessment studies. Van der Hammen, T., 1972. Changes in vegetation and climate in the Amazon basin and – After his retirement in 1989 he lived in Chia, a village near Bogotá. surrounding areas during the Pleistocene. Geologie en Mijnbouw 51 (6), 641 643. Van Geel, B., van der Hammen, T., 1973. Upper Quaternary vegetational and climatic Using the pollen spectra in fossil pollen records he reconstructed two sequence of the Fúquene area (Eastern Cordillera, Colombia). Palaeogeography hectares of high plain forest near his house. This initiative attracted the Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology 14, 9–92. attention of many officials and was an inspiration to nature conservation Van der Hammen, T., Werner, J.H., van Dommelen, H., 1973. Palynological record of the upheaval of the Northern Andes: a study of the Pliocene and Lower Quaternary of in a wider area. He promoted many studies in collaboration with national the Colombian Eastern Cordillera and the early evolution of its high-Andean biota. research institutes such as the Instituto de Ciencias Naturales (ICN) of the Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 16, 1–122. Uniersidad Nacional de Colombia, the Geographical Institute (IGAC), the Van der Hammen, T., 1974. The Pleistocene changes of vegetation and climate in tropical South America. Journal of Biogeography 1, 3–26. Geological Institute (Ingeominas), the Anthropological Institute, and the Van der Hammen, T., 1978. Stratigraphy and environment of the Upper Quaternary of Von Humboldt Institute for Biodiversity, all in Bogotá. the El Abra corridor and rock shelters (Colombia). Palaeogeography Palaeoclima- Thomas van der Hammen published over the extraordinary long tology Palaeoecology 25, 111–162. Van der Hammen, T., Correal Urrego, C., 1978. Prehistoric man on the Sabana de Bogotá: period of 71 years: from 1939 to 2010. In Colombia he also published data for an ecological prehistory. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecol- major papers in Spanish to serve the Latin American community. Five ogy 25, 179–190.

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