Solco Walle Tromp (9, March 1909 - 17, March 1983) was a Dutch

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...

and biometeorologist. Tromp was from 1947 to 1950 Professor of geology at

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

. He co-founded the

International Society of Biometeorology The International Society of Biometeorology (ISB) is a professional society for scientists interested in biometeorology, specifically environmental and ecological aspects of the interaction of the atmosphere and biosphere. The organization's stat ...

and published pioneering writings on

biometeorology Biometeorology is the interdisciplinary field of science that studies the interactions between the biosphere and the Earth's atmosphere on time scales of the order of seasons or shorter (in contrast with bioclimatology). Examples of relevant proce ...

. Tromp took a deep interest in

dowsing Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia),As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active dowsers in Ge ...

and

radiesthesia Radiesthesia describes an ability to detect radiation emitted by a person, animal, object or geographical feature. There is no scientific evidence of the existence of this pseudoscientific or occult phenomenon. Definitions One definition is "se ...

. He conducted experiments and came to the conclusion that dowsing is a real phenomenon due to activity of

electromagnetic field An electromagnetic field (also EM field or EMF) is a classical (i.e. non-quantum) field produced by (stationary or moving) electric charges. It is the field described by classical electrodynamics (a classical field theory) and is the classical c ...

s. His views on dowsing were criticized by the

scientific community The scientific community is a diverse network of interacting scientists. It includes many " sub-communities" working on particular scientific fields, and within particular institutions; interdisciplinary and cross-institutional activities are als ...

and have been described by critics as an example of

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...

. Gardner, Martin. (2012 edition, originally published in 1957). ''

Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science ''Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science'' (1957)—originally published in 1952 as ''In the Name of Science: An Entertaining Survey of the High Priests and Cultists of Science, Past and Present''—was Martin Gardner's second book. A survey o ...

''. Dover Publications. pp. 103-106.

Publications

*''The Religion of the Modern Scientist: Neo-Materialism'' (1947) *''Psychical Physics: A Scientific Analysis of Dowsing Radiesthesia and Kindred Divining Phenomena'' (1949) *''Medical Biometeorology: Weather, Climate, and the Living Organism'' (1963) *''Pathological Biometeorology'' (1977)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tromp, Solco Walle 1909 births 1983 deaths Cairo University alumni Dowsing 20th-century Dutch geologists