Guus Berkhout

Last updated

Augustinus Johannes "Guus" Berkhout (born 1 April 1940) is a Dutch engineer who has worked for the oil and gas industry, and as a professor.

Contents

Berkhout started his career working for Shell. Between 1976 and 2007, he served as professor of acoustics, geophysics and innovation management, at Delft University of Technology. From 2000 to 2002 he was chair of a commission dealing with projected sound norms at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, from which he resigned after feeling the commission's independence was undermined by the Ministry for Transport and Water Management. In 2019, Berkhout co-founded the climate sceptic organization Climate Intelligence Foundation (CLINTEL).

Early life and education

Berkhout was born in 1940 in Den Helder. [1] [2] He studied electrical engineering at Delft University of Technology and obtained his degree in 1963. In 1970 he obtained a PhD cum laude in physics from the same university. [2] [3]

Career

In 1964 Berkhout started working for Royal Dutch Shell. In 1976 he returned to Delft University of Technology, and became a professor of acoustic imaging and sound control. [4] In 1987 he also became professor of geophysics. [1] In 1998 he joined the board of the university, he stepped down in 2001, before the end of his term, due to differences with other board members in vision on the future of the university. [3] In 2001 he became professor of innovation management and he retired from the university in 2007. [1] Berkhout has pleaded against the increase of bureaucratic processes at universities. [5]

During his time at Delft University Berkhout was the founder and scientific director of the Delphi Consortium, which does seismic research for a consortium of oil and gas companies. [4]

Public sector

Berkhout was chair of the independent Commission Experts Airplane sound from mid 2000 to December 2002. On request of the House of Representatives the Dutch Minister for Transport and Water Management, Tineke Netelenbos, instigated the commission. The commission was to look into the sound norms for Amsterdam Airport Schiphol for the upcoming five years. Berkhout resigned as chair after having the feeling that the independence of the commission was hindered by the Ministry, and having to wait for approval of a measurement plan for over half a year. [6] The whole commission resigned, citing they had been actively worked against by the Ministry. [7]

For the 2006 Dutch general elections Berkhout had planned to form a new party with several scientists and entrepreneurs, but did not enter the elections, seeing the huge increase in new parties contesting the election. [1]

Climate Intelligence Foundation

Berkhout founded the Netherlands-based organization Climate Intelligence Foundation (CLINTEL). Mid 2019 plans of CLINTEL and Berkhout were leaked showing that they were organizing a campaign against political commitments to net zero carbon emissions being made into law. The campaign features a number of academics and industry figures with ties to climate change sceptics groups, as well as members from oil and gas companies. [8] Berkhout claimed the ideal of the organization was to provide an alternative to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. [9]

In late September 2019 the group produced an open letter which presented a European Climate Declaration, stating that there was no climate emergency and repeating a number of claims that were inconsistent with the scientific evidence on climate. [10] A fact check performed by climate scientists for Climate Feedback gave the letter an overall scientific credibility of "very low", and tagged it as "Biased, Cherry-picking, Inaccurate, Misleading". The analysis also added that, out of the roughly 500 signatories, only 10 self-identified as climate scientists. [11] The document was later rebranded as the World Climate Declaration. [12]

Honours and distinctions

Berkhout was elected a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1990. [13]

In 2008 he was made an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delft University of Technology</span> Dutch university

The Delft University of Technology 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 the top 10 engineering and technology universities in the world. In 2023 it was ranked 2nd in the world in civil engineering, 3rd in the world in mechanical and aerospace engineering, and 3rd in the world in architecture.

James Clement Dooge was an Irish Fine Gael politician, engineer, climatologist, hydrologist and academic who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1981 to 1982, Leader of the Seanad and Leader of Fine Gael in the Seanad from 1982 to 1987 and Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann from 1973 to 1977. He served as a Senator from 1961 to 1977 and 1981 to 1987.

The Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft was established in 2004 at the Department of NanoScience, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology through a grant by the US-based The Kavli Foundation. Two different departments, Quantum Nanoscience and Bionanoscience, as well as the Institute of Quantum Technology, are part of this institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hans Dorjee</span> Dutch footballer (1941–2002)

Hans Dorjee was a Dutch professional football player and manager.

The Climatic Research Unit email controversy began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) by an external attacker, copying thousands of emails and computer files to various internet locations several weeks before the Copenhagen Summit on climate change.

Henricus Joannes (Henk) van Dongen was a Dutch organizational theorist, policy advisor, and University Professor at the Rotterdam School of Management and one of its founders. He is noted for introducing notions of process thinking and social integration into (Dutch) organizational studies and practice.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Monasch</span> Dutch politician

Jacques Simon Monasch is a Dutch politician, art collector and former management as well as political consultant and civil servant. He was a member of the House of Representatives between 17 June 2010 and 23 March 2017, where he focused on matters of housing and spatial planning. He was a member of the Labour Party from 1986 to 2016. Due to Monasch leaving the Labour Party, the Second Rutte cabinet lost its majority in the House of Representatives. Several weeks after leaving the Labour Party Monasch announced he would enter the 2017 general election with his new party, Nieuwe Wegen. His party did not obtain any seats in the election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrianus de Hoop</span> Dutch electrical engineer (born 1927)

Adrianus Teunis (Aad) de Hoop is a Dutch electrical engineer, mathematician, and physicist, and professor emeritus at Delft University of Technology. De Hoop's research interests are in the broad area of wavefield modeling in acoustics, electromagnetics, and elastodynamics. Other research includes a method for computing pulsed electromagnetic fields in strongly heterogeneous media with applications to integrated circuits, and a methodology for time-domain pulsed-field antenna analysis, design, and optimization for mobile communication and radar applications.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Wiebes</span> Dutch politician

Eric Derk Wiebes is a Dutch politician who served as Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy in the Third Rutte cabinet since 26 October 2017 until 15 January 2021. He is a member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Clay</span> Dutch physicist (1882–1955)

Jacob Clay was a prominent Dutch physicist who first suggested and provided evidence that cosmic rays are charged particles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jurjen Battjes</span> Dutch civil engineer

Jurjen Anno Battjes is a Dutch civil engineer. He was a professor of fluid dynamics at Delft University of Technology until his retirement in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman van Bekkum</span> Dutch organic chemist (1932–2020)

Herman van Bekkum was a Dutch organic chemist. He was professor of Catalysis in Organic Chemistry between 1971 and 1998 at Delft University of Technology. He served as rector magnificus of the university between 1975 and 1976. He was an expert in the field of carbohydrate chemistry and zeolites.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karen Aardal</span> Norwegian and Dutch applied mathematician

Karen I. Aardal is a Norwegian and Dutch applied mathematician, theoretical computer scientist, and operations researcher. Her research involves combinatorial optimization, integer programming, approximation algorithms, and facility location, with applications such as positioning emergency vehicles to optimize their response time. She is a professor in the Delft Institute of Applied Mathematics at the Delft University of Technology, and the chair of the Mathematical Optimization Society for the 2016–2019 term.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernst Homburg</span> Dutch emeritus professor of History of Science and Technology

Ernst Homburg is a Dutch emeritus professor of History of Science and Technology at Maastricht University. He published on the History of Chemistry and Technology in the 19th and 20th century in the Netherlands and Europe.

Hugo A. Berkhout is a Dutch currency specialist and politician. He served as a member of the Senate between October 2020 and June 2023. There, he represented the conservative and right-wing populist party Forum for Democracy until he stepped out of the party the following month amidst an internal crisis. He later joined the splinter party JA21.

Marienus Johannes Hendrikus Heule is a Dutch computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University who studies SAT solvers. Heule has used these solvers to resolve mathematical conjectures such as the Boolean Pythagorean triples problem, Schur's theorem number 5, and Keller's conjecture in dimension seven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joris Thijssen</span> Dutch Greenpeace director and politician

Joris Thijssen is a Dutch environmental activist and politician. After studying aerospace engineering, he started working for the environmental organization Greenpeace. He participated in numerous protest actions, leading to a number of arrests and a criminal record. In 2016, he became co-director of Greenpeace Netherlands. He left his job to participate in the 2021 general election, in which he was elected to the House of Representatives. There, he represents the Labour Party.

Meatable is a Dutch biotechnology company aimed at cultured meat, particularly pork.

Hatta Hannelore "Hatte" van der Woude is a Dutch politician who has represented the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) in the House of Representatives since 2021. She started her career in Vietnam and Singapore and later worked for The Hague University of Applied Sciences as a researcher, lecturer and policy advisor. Van der Woude was politically active in Delft's municipal council (2012–2016) and as an alderwoman in the city's municipal executive (2018–2021) prior to being elected to the House of Representatives in the 2021 general election.

The Hague Centre for Strategic Studies is think tank focused on strategic decision making and policy advice on national and international security issues. Established in 2003, the institute is based on Lange Voorhout in The Hague.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Joost Panhuysen (7 June 2007). "'TU Delft heeft een gouden kans gemist'" (in Dutch). Delta. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  2. 1 2 Augustinus Johannes Berkhout, Minimum Phase in Sampled-Signal Theory, PhD Dissertation, Delft University of Technology, February 1970
  3. 1 2 Jos Wassink (17 March 2014). "Guus Berkhout" (in Dutch). Delta. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 "Koninklijke onderscheidingen voor Fokkema, Luyben en Berkhout" (in Dutch). Delft University of Technology. 25 April 2008. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  5. ↑ Guus Berkhout. "Grote schoonmaak in het onderwijs" (PDF) (in Dutch). Beter onderwijs Nederland. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  6. ↑ John Schoorl and Jan Meeus (20 August 2003). "Te deskundig voor Schiphol". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  7. ↑ "Rookgordijn rondom lawaai Schiphol". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). 28 December 2002. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
  8. ↑ Hundreds of climate sceptics to mount international campaign to stop net-zero targets being made law In: The Independent . 6 September 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  9. ↑ Maarten Keulemans (8 February 2019). "Het 'andere klimaatgeluid' krijgt eigen onderzoeksinstituut" (in Dutch). de Volkskrant . Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  10. ↑ Readfearn, Graham (September 26, 2019). "'CO2 is plant food': Australian group signs international declaration denying climate science". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  11. ↑ "Letter signed by "500 scientists" relies on inaccurate claims about climate science". Climate Feedback . 4 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
  12. ↑ Check, RMIT ABC Fact (27 February 2020). "These 'scientists and professionals' say there is no climate emergency. So who are they?". ABC News. Retrieved 19 August 2022.
  13. ↑ "Guus Berkhout". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 26 July 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.