earth science

Thomas van der Hammen

Thomas van der Hammen is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Thomas van der Hammen rather than just read about it. In short: Thomas van der Hammen (Schiedam, Netherlands, 27 September 1924 - Chía, Colombia, 12 March 2010) was a Dutch palaeontologist, botanist and geologist. He had published more than 160 works in five languages.

Key takeaways

Thomas van der Hammen belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Thomas van der Hammen to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Thomas van der Hammen from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Thomas van der Hammen (Schiedam, Netherlands, 27 September 1924 - Chía, Colombia, 12 March 2010) was a Dutch palaeontologist, botanist and geologist. He had published more than 160 works in five languages.

Biography

Personal life and education Thomas van der Hammen was born in the city of Schiedam in South Holland, western The Netherlands. He studied botany and palaeontology at Leiden University from 1944 to 1949. He was a deeply religious man.

Career After his studies and years of research at the University of Amsterdam, van der Hammen arrived in Bogotá in 1951. Van der Hammen analysed the Bogotá savanna and concluded a great lake (Lake Humboldt) was present there around 60,000 years BP, covering present-day Bogotá, Soacha, Funza, Mosquera, Madrid, Cota, Chía and Cajicá. Van der Hammen has contributed greatly to the understanding of the geology of the Bogotá savanna and surrounding areas. He has worked with Gonzalo Correal Urrego towards an understanding of the prehistoric sites, as El Abra, Tequendama and Tibitó in central Colombia and has defined and described various geological formations, such as the Marichuela, Tunjuelo, and Subachoque Formations. His paleobotanical background proved valuable in dating the continental Cacho Formation. In 2000, a natural reserve in the north of Bogotá bordering Chía and Cota, Thomas van der Hammen Natural Reserve, was named after the naturalist. The mayor of Bogotá, Enrique Peñalosa, who ran twice for the Green Party, allowed the construction of homes in the reserve, leading to protests by residents. In 2003, van der Hammen granted a wide-ranging interview to Radio Netherlands about his work and his life.

Works This list is a selection.

Books 2008 - La Cordillera Oriental Colombiana Transecto Sumapaz - Estudios de Ecosistemas Tropandinos 2007 - Atlas de Páramos de Colombia 1986 - La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (Colombia) Transecto Buritaca-La Cumbre 1979 - Changes in life conditions on Earth during the past one million years 1953 - Late-glacial flora and periglacial phenomena in the Netherlands

Articles 2006 - La conservación de la biodiversidad: hacia una estructura ecológica de soporte de la nación colombiana 2001 - Diversidade biológica e cultural da Amazonia 1997 - El bosque de Condalia 1981 - Environmental changes in the Northern Andes and the extinction of Mastodon 1978 - Stratigraphy and environment of the Upper Quaternary of the El Abra corridor and rock shelters (Colombia) 1972 - Changes in vegetation and climate in the Amazon basin and surrounding areas during the Pleistocene 1966 - The Pliocene and Quaternary of the Sabana de Bogotá (The Tilatá and Sabana Formations) 1957 - Climatic periodicity and evolution of South American Maestichtian and Tertiary floras 1951 - Vegetatie en stratigrafie van het Laat-glaciaal en het Pleni-glaciaal 1949 - De Allerod-oscillatie in Nederland. Pollenanalytisch onderzoek van een laatglaciale meerafzetting in Drente The standard author abbreviation Hammen is used to indicate this person as the author when citing a botanical name.

See also

Tequendama, Tibitó Gonzalo Correal Urrego, Bogotá savanna, El Abra, Thomas van der Hammen Natural Reserve

References

Bibliography Montoya Arenas, Diana María; Reyes Torres, Germán Alfonso (2005), Geología de la Sabana de Bogotá, INGEOMINAS, pp. 1–104

Notable works by Van der Hammen Morales M., Otero J., Hammen Thomas van der., Torres A., Cadena-Vargas C., Pedraza C., Rodríguez N., Franco C., Betancourth J.C., Olaya E., Posada E. y Cárdenas L. 2007. Atlas de páramos de Colombia. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. Bogotá, D. C. 208 p. ISBN 978-958-8151-91-5 Hammen, Thomas van der; Correal Urrego, Gonzalo (2003), "Supervivencia de mastodontes, megaterios y presencia del hombre en el Valle del Magdalena (Colombia) entre 6000 y 5000 A.P. - Survival of mastodonts, megatheriums and the presence of man in the Magdalena Valley (Colombia) between 6000 and 5000 years BP" (PDF), Rev. Acad. Colomb. Cienc. (in Spanish), 27: 159–164, ISSN 0370-3908, retrieved 8 July 2016 Hammen, Thomas van der (2003), La conservación de la biodiversidad: hacia una estructura ecológica de soporte de la nación colombiana [The conservation of the biodiversity: towards an ecological structure supported by the Colombian nation] (PDF) (in Spanish), Universidad Nacional de Colombia, pp. 286–291, retrieved 8 July 2016 Hammen, Thomas van der (1994), Stratigraphic Dating and Cultural Sequences of Pre-Hispanic Northern South America (PDF), The Getty Conservation Institute, pp. 381–393, ISBN 0-89236-249-9, retrieved 8 July 2016 Hammen, Thomas van der; Cleef, Antoine M. (1983), "Datos para la Historia de la Flora Andina" [Data on the History of the Andean Flora] (PDF), Revista Chilena de Historia Natural (in Spanish), 56: 97–107, retrieved 8 July 2016

External links Youtube.com: Interview with Thomas van der Hammen—(in Spanish)

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thomas van der Hammen

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thomas van der Hammen claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Thomas van der Hammen before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Thomas van der Hammen ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Thomas van der Hammen

In research: Thomas van der Hammen appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Thomas van der Hammen in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Thomas van der Hammen is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1924 births, 2010 deaths, 20th-century Colombian botanists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thomas van der Hammen outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Thomas van der Hammen in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thomas van der Hammen means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Thomas van der Hammen out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thomas van der Hammen in simple terms?

Why does Thomas van der Hammen matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Thomas van der Hammen?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Thomas van der Hammen.