From Switzerland to Canada: a diary of two Swiss Postdoctoral Fellows and Richard A. Vollenweider

Abstract

We met Richard Vollenweider for the first time as Ph.D. students, when he presented his report entitled, Scientific fundamentals of the eutrophication of lakes and flowing waters with particular reference to nitrogen and phosphorous as factors in eutrophication (Vollenweider, 1968), to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) committee chaired by Otto Jaag, a former director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Water Resources and Water Pollution Control (EAWAG). The following experts were part of this distinguished Board: O. Jaag and K. Wuhrmann (Switzerland), H. J. Elster and W. Ohle (Germany), D. Povoledo (Italy), W. Rodhe (Sweden), P. Lieben (France), R. Owens (United Kingdom), W. E. Johnson (Canada) and E. Martin (USA). Richard's study, based on information from Swiss, European and North American lakes, proved to be a milestone for the understanding of the trophic evolution of lakes, and for the first time demonstrated phosphorus loading as being the most crucial factor for eutrophication of fresh waters (Vollenweider, 1968, 1969, 1975, 1976).This report initiated a broader OECD Cooperative Program on Eutrophication which he supervised from 1971 to 1980, as well as numerous other studies in this field worldwide. Although in reality an individual lake does not respond exactly like his “average” model, Richard's quantitative models (Vollenweider, 1976) were evident and convincing for lake managers and therefore still have an immense impact on fighting against eutrophication today.Although Richard had placed the cornerstone for his reputation worldwide, the Swiss scientific community had not yet recognized his extraordinary qualities. So, as the prophet had no honor in his own country, the highly cited Swiss limnologist responded to an appointment from Canada, offering him a leading position at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters (CCIW) in Burlington, Ontario. In the early seventies, we both had the opportunity to follow him to Canada and to work as postdoctoral fellows under his supervision on the Laurentian Great Lakes. When we arrived at CCIW, we met Mohi Munawar, Richard's first postdoctoral Fellow, who was engaged in phytoplankton dynamics and primary productivity studies. In fact we became good friends while we worked actively in the International Field Year for Great Lakes (IFYGL). This provided an opportune time to work closely with Richard who was very helpful in formulating scientific projects and in analyzing research results. His guidance and support resulted in the publication of several papers in a short period of time (Gächter et al., 1973; Munawar et al., 1974; Stadelmann and Munawar, 1974; Stadelmann et al., 1974; Vollenweider et al., 1974).At CCIW we both experienced exiting and very interesting insights into Great Lakes research. However, we admit that we did not first succeed in becoming acquainted socially with Richard. His nickname, “Doctor God,” explains how we felt when he joined us young post docs, with little self-confidence, in the CCIW cafeteria. Just imagine a tight-lipped God with his immense scientific aura, speaking seven languages, sitting down at your table! Our colleagues were always suspicious about the three quiet Swiss sitting together! When he asked us to cut his lawn while he was abroad we felt obliged to help him in return for all the guidance he had provided. We knew that if no neighbor complained about the growth of yellow dandelions, he was happy with our work and in return invited us to a decent Italian dinner prepared by his wife Roberta.Even after returning to Switzerland, Richard visited us in Canada several times, being very much interested in the restoration program of various Swiss lakes through phosphorus loading reduction, as well as oxygenation and forced mixing, and wanting to share that information (Vollenweider, 1987; Gächter, 1987; Gächter and Stadelmann, 1993; Stadelmann and Gächter, 1993; Gächter and Wehrli, 1998).We were delighted to hear the news in 1986 that together with Werner Stumm (former Director of EAWAG), Richard was awarded the Tyler Environmental Prize. But mostly, we are grateful for having had the chance to learn from these two great Swiss teachers/scientists who expanded our scientific horizons.