BRUUN Palle

DENMARK (see also List of Individuals)

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10.5.1873 København/DK - 21.10.1910 København/DK

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Palle Bruun graduated as a civil engineer from the Danish Polytechnic in 1898 and immediately afterwards went as a design engineer to Esbjerg harbor, Denmark's Western Gate to the North Sea. In the following year, he moved to Agger Tange on the west coast of Denmark, where he stayed until 1906 and contributed to coastal defense works. He then studied the main harbor of Faroe Islands, a Danish possession in the North Atlantic. He was appointed in 1909 professor of hydraulics at the Danish Polytechnic, Copenhagen.

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Bruun passed away at the age of only 37. During his short life he was able to obtain insight in the significant problems that are posed by the sea. Denmark as also the Netherlands, for instance, depends heavily on the waters around its territory, and men there have been in contact with harbor and coastal design for centuries. Bruun contributed to various by then actual problems of the country, along its coasts and for harbor improvement. He published in 1909 a notable book on coastal design, for which he became known. He collaborated in the 1900's with his colleague Jon Munch-Petersen (1873-1939); the two won the Technical Research Award for the securing of Móns Klint, the spectacular white chalk cliffs rising 128 m above sea level, and presenting one of the most striking landscapes in Denmark. The cliffs are located on the Island of Món, South of Zealand to which it is connected by a bridge. Bruun also prepared lecture notes in hydraulic structures then concluded by his successor Schónweller. Volume 1 is a general account on hydraulic structures, volume 2 describes sluices, channels and open channel flow, and volume 3 relates to harbor design.

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_{Bruun, P., Meden, H.P., Munch-Petersen, J.J. (1906). Forslag til Bevarelse af Móens Klint. Tekniske Forenings Tidsskrift 29(11): 1-12.}

_{Bruun, P. (1908). Indberetning om de færóske havneforhold. Copenhagn. Bruun, P. (1909). Action of waves and currents. Ingeniøren 18: 275-281. Bruun, P. (1910). Lærebog i vands bevœgelse. Copenhagen.}

_{Munch-Petersen, J.J. (1910). Palle Bruun. Ingeniøren 19(44): 357. P}

_{Schónweller, G., Bruun, P. (1910). Forelasninger over vandbygning. Polytekniske Læreanstalt.}

_Kopenhagn.

_{Vinding, P. (1979). Bruun, Palle. Dansk biografisk leksikon 2: 617-618. Gyldendal: Copenhagen.}