BEMMELEN, REINOUT WILLEM VAN

born April 14, 1904, Batavia, Dutch East Indies [now Jakarta, Indon.] Dutch geophysicist whose studies of the regional geology of Indonesia led to recognition of the importance of island areas in the development of the Earth's crust. A member of the Geological Survey of Indonesia (1927-46), for which he served as chief of its volcanological survey (1940-46), he became a member of the staff at the Geological Institute of the State University of Utrecht, Neth., in 1949, retiring in 1969. He also conducted research on continental drift and determination of winds in the equatorial stratosphere. He wrote The Geology of Indonesia (1949), Mountain Building (1954), and Geodynamic Models (1972).