Märker, Michael

Revistas AcadÃ©micas de la Universidad de Chile

Obituary for Giuliano Rodolfi

Michael Märker

Directory of Open Access Journals

Investigaciones GeográficasRevista editada por el Departamento de Geografía Facultad de Arquitectura y UrbanismoUniversidad de ChileLa revista Investigaciones Geográficas fue creada en 1951 bajo el nombre de Informaciones Geográficas, cambiando a su actual nominación el año 2000, al abordar, en conformidad con la misión del Departamento de Geografía, temáticas de carácter científicas resultantes de investigaciones en el ámbito de las ciencias geográficas y disciplinas afines. Investigaciones Geográficas es una publicación periódica que contiene artículos originales e inéditos de investigadores nacionales y extranjeros, los que son sometidos a evaluación por parte del comité editorial, editores asociados y evaluadores invitados. Los evaluadores son destacados académicos universitarios pertenecientes a instituciones nacionales e internacionales.The Journal Geographic Investigations was first publish in 1951 under the name Geographical Investigations, with the change to the current title occurring in 2000, addressing, in accordance with the mission of the Geography Department, themes of a scientific nature resulting from research in the area of geographic sciences and related disciplines. Geographic Investigations is a publication which contains original and unpublished articles by national and international researchers which undergo evaluation by the editorial board, associate editors and guest reviewers. The evaluators are distinguished university academics who belong to both national and international institutions. 2Obituary for Giuliano RodolfiThe untimely and sudden death of Giuliano Rodolfi on 18. November 2015 has robbed the community of Geomorphologists, Geologists, Soil Scientists, and Geoarcheologists of a distinguished scholar and outstanding researcher as well as a beloved teacher, colleague and friend.Giuliano Rodolfi was born in San Piero, Florence, on the 29.09.1939. After finishing in 1966 his studies of geology at Florence University and became high school teacher from 1967-1974, where he developed his excellent didactic skills. Thereafter, in 1974 he was nominated researcher at the National Research Institute for Soil Studies and Conservation of the Ministry for Agriculture and Forests in Florence. He was the responsible researcher for the experimental site in Fagna (Scarperia, Florence) and part of the Pedogenesis, Soil classification and Soil Cartography Section.Since 1979 he taught at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of Florence University courses and seminars in mineralogy and geology and since 1981 in geomorphology of the tropics and subtropics. In 1988 he was called as Associated Professor for Lithology and Geomorphology of the Tropics and Subtropics at the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of Florence University. In the following years, he was also appointed lecturer for Physical Geography and Applied Geology at the Italian Institute for Military Geography (1993-2000), lecturer for Geomorphology at Pisa University (1994-1996) as well as lecturer for Photointerpretation and Remote Sensing at the Agronomic Institute for Overseas, Florence (1995-2013). In 1999 he was nominated Chair and Ordinary Professor for Physical Geography and Geomorphology. Giuliano Rodolfi retired in 2009.As one of the leading Italian geomorphologist he published more than 150 national and international scientific publications on a broad variety of aspects including soil and geomorphological cartography, soil conservation and land evaluation as well as environmental impact studies of larger infrastructures. The main focus of his work was dedicated to soil-landscape relations and processes. He was author of books and chapters in international journals like “Environmental Geomorphology”, “Geomorphological Hazards” (ed. Elsevier, Amsterdam) or “Environmental Change and Geomorphic Hazards in Forests” (ed. CABI Publishing, Vienna). Moreover, he was co-author of an Italian introduction to soil science (“Il suolo - Pedologia nelle Scienze della Terra e nella Valutazione del Territorio”, ed. Nuova Italia Scientifica). He also worked as reviewer for several scientific journals and was part of the advisory board of French “Gèomorphologie” and the Rumanian “Analele Universitatii Spiru Haret Bucaresti” as well as several Latin American Journals.Giuliano Rodolfi participated in several national and international projects. He was coordinator of three mayor national projects (PRIN) on soil erosion in the Mediterranean (2004-2009) and local coordinator of larger EU projects (1997-2001) entitled “Integrated Water Resources Management System (IWRMS)” focusing on Southern Africa, and “Applied Remote Sensing and GIS Integration for Model Parameterization (ARSGISIP)” concentrating on the Mediterranean and Central Europe.Apart of his near local and regional European research interests, Giuliano Rodolfi conducted also several scientific expeditions and journeys with geomorphological focus to Africa, South America, Australia and Asia. Especially in the last years, he organized international collaborations with the National University of Chile and with the Ethiopian Institute for Water Resources in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Nonetheless, his international scientific activity he always was very concerned about environmental issues in the region he lived in, the Mugello Valley, North of Florence. Hence, one of the last works he finished just last year was dedicated to the Mugello landscape: “Il Mugello e la Sieve – storia antica e moderna di un paesaggio che scompare” (Edizioni del Filo, 2014). His last book is an excellent example for the holistic approach and understanding of landscape Guiliano was teaching us.For all his scholars it was a great pleasure and a real gift to have the chance to work with Giuliano Rodolfi, who is distinguished by his humility, patience and always was living the enthusiasm for his work. Giuliano Rodolfi is survived by his wife Fiorella and his two daughters, Liliana and Alessandra as well and three grandchild.Dr. Michael MärkerHeidelberg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, ROCEEH, c/o University of Tübingen, Germany

Investigaciones Geográficas

http://revistas.uchile.cl/index.php/IG/article/download/41175/42713

Obituary for Giuliano Rodolfi

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Revistas AcadÃ©micas de la Universidad de Chile

Directory of Open Access Journals