Jurjen Anno Battjes (born 22 February 1939) is a Dutch civil engineer. He was a professor of

fluid dynamics In physics and engineering, fluid dynamics is a subdiscipline of fluid mechanics that describes the flow of fluids— liquids and gases. It has several subdisciplines, including ''aerodynamics'' (the study of air and other gases in motion) an ...

Delft University of Technology Delft University of Technology ( nl, Technische Universiteit Delft), also known as TU Delft, is the oldest and largest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. As of 2022 it is ranked by QS World University Rankings among ...

until his retirement in 2004. Battjes was elected an international member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

in 2009 for international leadership, research, and teaching in coastal engineering and storm protection.

Career

Battjes was born on 22 February 1939 in

Winschoten Winschoten (; gos, Winschoot) is a city with a population of 18,518 in the municipality of Oldambt in the northeast of the Netherlands. It is the largest city in the region of Oldambt in the province of Groningen which has 38,213 inhabitants. ...

. He studied civil engineering at

, earning his M.Sc in 1962. Battjes subsequently spent four years as an assistant professor at the Laboratory of Coastal Engineering at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, in the United States. He started working as a professor at

in the late 1960s, where he held the chair of fluid dynamics. In 1974 Battjes obtained his

Doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...

title in technical sciences at Delft University under Johan Schönfeld, with a thesis titled ''Computation of Set-up, Longshore Currents, Run-up and Overtopping due to Wind-generated Waves''. Battjes retired in 2004. In October 2005 Battjes was hired to help analyse the causes of the 2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans that were caused by

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. Battjes was member of the External Review Panel, charged with checking the work of the taskforce investigating the functioning of levees in Greater New Orleans. He was the only non-American on this panel. Battjes became a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 1975. In 1990, he won the International Coastal Engineering Award of the

American Society of Civil Engineers American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

. In 2009, Battjes was elected as a foreign member of the United States

in the section of civil engineering. His book ''Unsteady flows in open channels'', co-authored with Robert Jan Labeur, was selected as one of the "outstanding academic titles 2017" by ''Choice'' magazine.

Works

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References

External links

Profile
at

Mathematics Genealogy Project The Mathematics Genealogy Project (MGP) is a web-based database for the academic genealogy of mathematicians.. By 31 December 2021, it contained information on 274,575 mathematical scientists who contributed to research-level mathematics. For a ty ...

* The TU Delft research output system Pure provides a
extensive overview
of all publications of Battjes {{DEFAULTSORT:Battjes, Jurjen 1939 births Living people Delft University of Technology alumni Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology Dutch civil engineers Fluid dynamicists Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Engineering People from Winschoten