The IUGG Electronic JournalVolume 4 No. 9a (September 17, 2004)This is the first of two messages regarding the loss of our friend and colleague, Professor Paul Melchior. This brief announcement will be followed next week by an official and complete obituary. In Memoriam: Paul Melchior Professor Paul Melchior passed away on Wednesday, September 14, as a result of serious complications following hip replacement surgery in July. He was the Honorary Secretary General of IUGG, having served as Secretary General from 1973 -1991 in association with five IUGG Presidents (H. Charnock, A. Ashour, G.D. Garland, D. Lal, and V.I. Keilis-Borok). He was the winner of the Levallois Medal, granted by the International Association of Geodesy, in honor of outstanding contributions to geodesy. The Earth Tide Commission Medal was awarded in 1997 to Baron Paul Melchior for his outstanding contribution to international cooperation in earth tide research. He was an excellent scientist and wrote several books on Earth tides and in Geodynamics. He will also be remembered as a humanist and a talented historian. Among his many duties, he was Director of the Royal Observatory of Belgium from 1981 till 1990, Director of the International Center of Earth Tides from 1958 till 1995 and Professor at the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) from 1972 till 1990. Upon hearing this news, Prof. Attia Ashour, IUGG President from 1975-1979, wrote the following. "It is with much sadness that I learned from your message of the death of my very dear friend Paul Melchior. I spent with him 20 years working together and I do not recall one occasion that we differed and we did not solve our difference quickly and amicably. He was very efficient, very hardworking and dedicated to IUGG. He definitely left his mark. We exchanged letters last year in which we remembered some of the difficult times and also the good times we had during our cooperation. The IUGG community will miss this pioneer of the IUGG officers." The funeral ceremony will be held on Monday, September 20 at 11:00 in the Church St-Marc Avenue de Fré, 74 B-1180 Brussels(Uccle). Condolences can be sent to: Mrs A. Melchior-Bary This short, informal newsletter is intended to keep IUGG Member National Committees informed about the activities of the IUGG Associations, and actions of the IUGG Secretariat. Past issues are posted on the IUGG Web site. Your comments are welcome. End of IUGG Electronic Journal Volume 4 Number 9a (September 17, 2004) |
