executed many studies on the problem of salt intrusion into tidal rivers. During the war, he prepared a plan called "Verlandingsplan" to manipulate tidal rivers in such a way that natural silting-up would take place, and that to reclaim this new land would be easy. Just after the war, he presented this plan again, but mainly because at that time the country focused rather not on reclaiming land, but on repairing war damage. Delta Plan From 1937 onward, van Veen warned about the deplorable condition of the Dutch flood defences. He stipulated that a disaster was imminent, but politically he found no support for his warnings, the main reason being that improvement of dikes would cost a lot of money, which was not available in the Netherlands just after the war (the country depended mainly on money from the Marshall Plan). He had already published a book in English on the history of Dutch Hydraulic Engineering (Dredge, Drain, Reclaim, the Art of a Nation). In later reprints of this book he added a chapter by "Dr. Cassandra" as he used this pseudonym, including these warnings. His final warning report was a study describing the risks, including a plan to improve the situation by closing some estuaries. This document was dated January 29, 1953. During the following night The Netherlands were struck by the biggest storm surge ever, the North Sea flood of February 1st, 1953. After the disaster a State Commission was installed (18 February 1953), and Johan van Veen was appointed Secretary of the State Commission. In May 1953 the commission offered its first interim report, recommending immediate closure of the Hollandse IJssel with a storm surge barrier Flood barrier, and to implement Van Veen's plan to close the estuaries (the Delta Works). Eventually this work had been carried out; the final report of the commission was published in 1960, one year after Johan van Veen died. In The Netherlands Johan van Veen is remembered as the "father of the Delta Plan" and in England as "Master of the Floods". Inventions Johan van Veen has a number of inventions to his name. Notable is the Van Veen Grab Sampler, a device to take (disturbed) bed samples from the seabed (around 1930). He is also the inventor of the pneumatic barrier to prevent salt intrusion (around 1940). In 1930, he proved the analogy between electricity and water flow. From this