Albert Brahms (October 24, 1692 – August 3, 1758) was a

Frisia Frisia is a cross-border cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. The region is traditionally inhabited by the Frisians, a West G ...

n dike judge, an elected community leader responsible for maintaining the

dikes Dyke (UK) or dike (US) may refer to: General uses * Dyke (slang), a slang word meaning "lesbian" * Dike (geology), a subvertical sheet-like intrusion of magma or sediment * Dike (mythology), ''Dikē'', the Greek goddess of moral justice * Dikes ...

that protected the area against the

Wadden Sea The Wadden Sea ( nl, Waddenzee ; german: Wattenmeer; nds, Wattensee or ; da, Vadehavet; fy, Waadsee, longname=yes; frr, di Heef) is an intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea. It lies between the coast of northwestern conti ...

, and a pioneer of

hydraulic engineering Hydraulic engineering as a sub-discipline of civil engineering is concerned with the flow and conveyance of fluids, principally water and sewage. One feature of these systems is the extensive use of gravity as the motive force to cause the m ...

Biography

Brahms was born on October 24, 1692, in Sanderahm, Sande, in what is now the Friesland district of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

.. He was elected as dike judge in 1718, after the disastrous Christmas flood of 1717, which had caused many deaths, and he retained the position until 1752., p. 12. For his work in dike engineering, he was honored as a "princely geometer" of the

Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst Anhalt-Zerbst was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire ruled by the House of Ascania, with its residence at Zerbst in present-day Saxony-Anhalt. It emerged as a subdivision of the Principality of Anhalt from 1252 until 1396, when it was divided ...

(german: "hochfürstlich Anhalt-Zerbstischer Geometer"), to which Sande at that time belonged.

Coastal engineering

In his position as dike judge, Brahms arranged for the establishment of physical benchmarks, located on stable ground near the coast, for use in measuring tide levels and storm surges. In 1754 and 1757, Brahms published a two-volume book on dike maintenance, the ''Anfangsgründe der Deich und Wasser-Baukunst'' rinciples of Dike and Aquatic Engineering In it he recommended regularly comparing the height of the dikes with the high tide level. He kept the first known records of the tide levels on the North Sea coast of Germany, and established records of storm surge levels. He also developed mathematical models of local wave heights as being proportional to the square root of water depth, p. 9. and of the motion of sediments in water channels. write that his book was "unique" and "far ahead of his contemporaries", noting that Brahms "already recognized nearly all key problems" as they are now understood "and delivered solutions which still must be regarded as pathbreaking".

Biography

Coastal engineering

Notes

References

External links

Further reading