About Hendrik Wortman
Hendrik Wortman (25 March 1859 – 21 October 1939) was a Dutch civil engineer. Born in Amersfoort, Utrecht, he graduated from Delft Polytechnic in 1880 and joined the Rijkswaterstaat. He took offices throughout the country, focusing particularly on questions of water management and hydraulic engineering, until he was seconded to the Ministry of Public Works, Trade, and Industry in 1894. In this capacity, he developed several infrastructure projects, including a harbour in Scheveningen, while preparing exploratory studies for damming of the Zuiderzee. After Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands gave royal assent to the Zuiderzee Works, in 1919 Wortman was appointed as the director general of the Zuiderzee Works Service. Wortman thus designed several aspects of the project as he oversaw its initial stages, including early work on the Afsluitdijk. For his contributions, Wortman was appointed to the Orders of the Netherlands Lion and Orange-Nassau. The H. Wortman Pumping Station in Lelystad is named after him. By the time of his graduation, Wortman was involved in the First Precise Levelling Project. Wortman was made chief engineer-director, first class, in 1912.
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