Arie Poldervaart

Arie Poldervaart (6 July 1918 in Bandung, Indonesia – 28 October 1964 in Manhattan) was a Dutch petrologist and leading expert on igneous and metamorphic rocks. He was a Guggenheim Fellow for the academic year 1959–1960.

Biography

Education and early career Arie Poldervaart grew up in Java, which was then part of the Dutch East Indies. In September 1934 he went to the Netherlands to complete his schooling. For the two academic years 1935–1936 and 1936–1937 he studied applied and industrial chemistry at Technische Hoogeschool Delft. In the summer of 1937 he rejoined his parents in Bandung. After a few months in Java working as an apprentice in the Dutch government geological survey, he matriculated in January 1938 at the University of Cape Town to study chemistry and geology. After receiving his M.S. in 1940, he became a doctoral candidate under the supervision of Frederick Walker (1898–1968), F.R.S.E. Starting in 1939, they did field work together on the Karoo dolerites. Poldervaart received his Ph.D. in 1942. In December 1942 he married Gertrude Middleton. Also in 1949 Poldervaart and von Bäckstrom published an article on their field work.

Poldervaar won the gold medal of the Geological Society of South Africa.

Relocation to the United States In 1951 Poldervaart immigrated with his family to the United States to become an associate professor at Columbia University.

Crust of the Earth, a Symposium (1955), edited by Poldervaart, became one of the Geological Society of American's best-selling books.

Upon his death in 1964 Poldervaart was survived by his widow, a son, and two daughters, as well as his father and a sister.

Selected publications