Jim Dooge, One of the Pioneers of Hydrology passed away
It is with deep regret that we have learned that Prof. James (Jim) Dooge passed away on Friday, 20 August 2010. Jim Dooge was a former Irish minister of foreign affairs, but to us he is known as one of the most famous European Hydrologists of the previous century. He was one of Hydrology's pioneers, and a father of linear theory in hydrology. He defined catchments as "complex systems with some degree of organisation" (Dooge, 1986), and always tried to find the laws behind the simple behaviour that these systems sometimes demonstrate (Dooge, 1997). His last paper was "Bringing it all together" (Dooge, 2005), which was the first paper to be published in the new open-access HESS.
Jim's interest in hydrology was stimulated by his background in engineering, which he took to the highest scientific level. With time, his interest expanded to cover meteorology and climate. He considerably influenced the climate change debate. It was Jim who invited the International Conference on Water and the Environment to be held in Dublin in 1992 as a precursor to the Rio Earth Summit. He chaired the meeting where the "Dublin Principles" were formulated. These Dublin principles formed the foundation for the Global Water Partnership and have been influential in shaping water management policy over the last 20 years.
Jim Dooge was also an active participant in EGU activities. He published his "Linear Theory of Hydrological Systems" (Dooge, 2003) with EGU, was always present at EGU meetings and was a strong supporter of the HESS journal. He received the first Dalton medal of EGU in 1998 and gave his last speech "Bringing it all together" during the EGU general assembly of 2004, which he himself called his 'swan song'.
Jim will be remembered by us with gratitude and the deepest admiration.
Dooge J.C.I. (1986), "Looking for hydrologic laws", Water Resources Research, 22(9), 46S–58S.
Dooge, J.C.I. (1997), "Searching for Simplicity in Hydrology", Surveys in Geophysics 18: 511–534, 1997.
Dooge, J.C.I. (2003), "Linear Theory of Hydrological Systems", EGU Reprint Series, 1, 2003.
Dooge, J.C.I., (2005), "Bringing it all together", Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 9, 3-14, 2005