Dr. R. A. Vollenweider: the man and his science

Richard Vollenweider was a great man and a brilliant scientist; his interests were broad and varied and he knew a number of fields rather deeply. All those who met his mind recognized that immediately. He was an internationalist, spoke eight languages and lived and worked in many countries. His basic field was biology, but he branched out in almost all aspects of water sciences and indeed was known as the lakes doctor. During the period 1968 to 1988, he worked at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters (CCIW) and the National Water Research Institute.My association with Richard started in 1973 when I joined CCIW as a research scientist statistician and continued until his passing on January 20, 2007. Richard had tremendous impact on my research through his advice, discussion and above all, his friendship. He understood the importance of statistics and quantitative sciences in understanding the scope of environmental problems and in providing practical solutions for their remediation. His ability to combine physical processes with statistical data analysis was responsible for the development of his simple but effective model for relating the trophic status of lakes to nutrient loadings, particularly phosphorous and nitrogen (Vollenweider et al., 1974). The simplicity of his model was the result of ignoring the internal dynamic process and concentrating on a dose-response, or input-output modelling process, that allowed for the prediction of the expected trophic state at a specified nutrient level. This played a major role in his fame and led to him receiving many awards including the Tyler Prize (equivalent to the Nobel Prize for aquatic science), the Naumann-Thienemann Medal of the International Society of Limnology, a Laureate of the UNEP Global 500 Roll of Honour, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He received honorary doctoral degrees from the Universities McMaster, McGill, Uppsala and Ferrara.Dr. Vollenweider was a founding member of the International Environmetrics Society (TIES) and he gave the Keynote Address at its first meeting in Cairo in 1989, which was published in the first issue of the Environmetrics Journal (Vollenweider, 1990). He described Environmetrics as a crucial link of two scientific fields: statistics and environmental sciences. He specifically said when describing scientists applying statistics, “Most of us working on environmental issues, at one time or another, have used statistical techniques for analyzing data and have ventured into making inferences. The understanding of statistics for most of us however, is “second-hand,” i.e. learned from text books. This limits our ability to use statistics correctly. Indeed, rather than correct use, incorrect use, even misuse is often the rule, making statistics a questionable paraphernalia.” Then he went on to speak about statisticians, “There is also the counter-fact: statisticians, though highly qualified in their field, cannot develop and correctly apply their science without understanding the properties and functions of the dynamics of natural systems, as well as familiarity with the methods of analysis, are prerequisites for the correct application of new statistical concepts.” Those highlight Richard's philosophy of making empirical inferences based on data and scientific hypothesis. He was so pleased to be visiting Cairo during the conference because it reminded him of the days he spent working in Egypt and his love of Egyptian food and culture. In the last session of the conference meeting we were trying to identify a meeting place to hold the next conference. Richard suggested Como, Italy, and he played a crucial role in the organization of the next conference. So his support to TIES was a major help in the formation of that young society.Richard never stopped working after his retirement. I used to visit him regularly in his home to discuss his statistical modelling on the eutrophication of the Adriatic Sea. It was amazing to see this elderly gentleman working systematically on the analysis of a massive data set and getting so absorbed in the interpretation of the models’ features and parameters, particularly when new facts were revealed. I recall his last visit to CCIW when security phoned to inform that Richard had just arrived to see me. He came to my office and told me with a big smile on his face that he had just passed his driver's test and he decided to stop by and have a tour of the building. During the tour, he spoke of the programs and labs he designed, spoke with colleagues and associates and poignantly stood outside the library on the second floor where the plaque commemorating the Vollenweider lecture speakers is displayed. Two months later, he became ill and had to move to the hospital where I also visited him regularly.Overall Richard enriched his world and certainly my life, and for all of this I am thankful.

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