The great scientific achievement of Prof. W.L. Kubiena and specialized manner of his scientific work are characterized by his personality as well as by the way in which he completed his professional development.Kubiena studied at teh Hochschule für Bodenkultur in Vienna and decided as early as 1923 to devote himself to the task of pedological research. In 1927 he received his Ph.D. degree and in 1930 he started teaching under Prof. Dr. H. Kaserer Hochschule für Bodenkultur in Vienna, 1937 he became “ausserordentlicher Professor” at the Department of Geology and General Soil Science at the same institution.After he was awarded the Cock-Voorhecs-Research Scholarship for the years 1932 and 1913, Kubiena joined the renowned humus researcher, Prof. Dr. S.A. Waksmann, new Brunswick, N.J. and in 1935 he worked as guest in the Centre National de Recherches Agronomiques in Versailles.The microscopic investigation of organic soil constituents soon led Kubiena to the microscopic observation of the infrastructure of the soil (micromorphology). He developed his own method for the production of thin-sections of the soil. In 1937 Kubiena lectured at the Iowa State University of Science and Technology, Ames, Iowa, on microscopic pedology. There, he wrote his first standard volume of Micropedology. Besides this work on soil micromorphology Kubiena devoted himself in the course of many journeys to soil development and the different soil types (analogues in the U.S.A. are the Great Soil Groups). He also contributed a sizeable number of papers dealing with problems of soil development, soil types, soil survey, and forms and development of soil organic matter. A summary of his studies was published 1948 in book form as Entwicklungslehre des Bodens (Genetic Principles of Soil Development).In 1949 Kubiena accepted an invitation of the Secretary General of the Spanish Research Council, the great savant and personality Prof. Dr. J.M. Albareda, to go to Madrid. Here he wrote the well-known, exciting and exhaustive volume Bestimmungsbuch und Systematik der Böden Europas (Taxonomy and Systematic of European Soils), which appeared in both the English and Spanish languages. In this book Kubiena compiled many observations, that he accumulated during the course of his research trips and his work with the microscope. It was probably because of this achievement, that he received the Justus von Liebig prize in 1954.After the appearance of the aforementioned book Kubiena spent years, with a full load of research and teaching, at the Bundesanstalt für Forst-und Holzwirtschaft in Hamburg Reinbek, at the University of Hamburg as well as at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas in Madrid. As a result of Kubiena's dynamic activity knowledge about soil micromorphology was quickly spread. Nearly each pedological institution within the German Federal Republic today possesses facilities for the production and evaluation of soil thin-sections.Next to the Institut für Bodenkunde in Hamburg-Reinbek Dr. H.J. Altemüller in the Institut für Bodenbearbeitung (Direktor: Prof. Dr. H. Frese) has done successful work in this field. Work on soil micromorphology was further developed in foreign countries as well, such as in The Netherlands with Dr. A. Jongerius and Australia under Dr. R. Brewer.During the last few years Kubiena and his associates elaborated on a methodological approach in order to render micromorphology quantitative. Together with his excellent co-workers he wrote Die mikromorphometrische Bodenanalyse (Micromorphometric Soil Analysis) in 1967, a work of great importance.In the future, Kubiena intends to write two additional volumes on the topics of Paleopedology as well as on General Soil Geography. It is hoped that he will enjoy all the conditions favourable to this great task, most of all calmness and good health, and may he remain always happy in this appreciated and savoured occupation.