Maria Karoline Elisabeth Gottschalk (28 October 1912 – 14 September 1989) was a German-born Dutch
historical geographer and professor. She was noted for ''Stormvloeden en rivieroverstromingen in Nederland'' (Storm surges and river floods in the Netherlands), a three volume study into the historical
storm surges and
river floods, which is considered a standard work which corrected the existing theories behind storm surges.
Biography
Gottschalk was born on 28 October 1912 in
Mönchengladbach
Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border.
Geography Municipal subdivisions
Since 2009, th ...
, Germany. She became a teacher in
Margraten, Netherlands. In 1938, she changed to
Dutch nationality. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, she started to research the historical geography of
Zeelandic Flanders, but lost her research papers during the war.
In 1949, Gottschalk started studying
social geography at the
University of Utrecht, and graduated in 1952. In 1955, she obtained her
doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
cum laude with ''Historische Geografie van Westelijk Zeeuws-Vlaanderen''
which was a poorly documented subject. In 1962, she became
lector historical geography at the
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, ) is a public university, public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Established in 1632 by municipal authorities, it is the fourth-oldest academic institution in the Netherlan ...
.
In 1971, Gottschalk published the first volume of ''Stormvloeden en rivieroverstromingen in Nederland'' in which she researched the
storm surges and
river floods before 1400, and corrected many errors in the existing history, and discovered surges which were based on legends instead of facts. She proved that many more factors played a role, and corrected the theories behind the development of the
Zuiderzee and the
Dollart.
In 1977, the third and final volume was published which was described by the ''
Leeuwarder Courant'' as the standard work on floods in the Netherlands.
Gottschalk retired on 1 January 1978,
and died on 14 September 1989 in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, at the age of 76.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gottschalk, Elisabeth
1912 births
1989 deaths
People from Mönchengladbach
Utrecht University alumni
Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam
Historical geographers
Dutch women scientists
20th-century Dutch educators
20th-century Dutch women educators
German emigrants to the Netherlands