Geological Chronicle
Located on the far side of the Moon, Van der Waals is a heavily eroded impact crater measuring 113.37 kilometers across. The structure possesses an irregular outer rim that reflects extensive degradation across its circumference.
The crater rim shows pronounced structural asymmetry. While the northern side is more developed with a notched, rugged crest, the southern edge is lowest, worn down to little more than a circular crest along the ground. Van der Waals W is attached to the exterior of the northeast wall, and Van der Waals H intrudes into the southeastern rim. Within these degraded boundaries, the interior floor is relatively even and featureless, marked only by a few tiny craterlets.
The crater is surrounded by several notable landmarks, with Clark situated to the north, Carver to the east, and Pikel'ner to the southeast, while Lebedev lies about two crater diameters to the west-southwest. The feature is named for Johannes Diderik van der Waals, the Dutch physicist and Nobel laureate.