József Tóth
IAH accords the title of Honorary Member to those who have given exceptional service to the Association over a long period. In 2012 our general assembly approved the award of Honorary Membership to József Tóth.
Following university study in his native Hungary and at the University of Utrecht, Jóe Tóth spent 20 years with the Alberta Research Council as a hydrogeologist, and introduced hydrogeology to the universities of Alberta (1966-70) and Calgary (1978-80) and was a professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Alberta from 1980 until his retirement in 1996. In 2008 he also became professor at the Eötvös Loránd Science University in Budapest, where he lived and taught from 2005 to 2008.
Joe Tóth’s research interests are mainly in the hydraulics, geological and environmental effects and utilization of regional groundwater flow, as reflected in his numerous publications and awards. In 1965, Joe was the first recipient of GSA’s Meinzer Award and subsequently has received the NGWA’s M. King Hubbert Science Award for 2003 and the Theis Award for 2004 from the American Institute of Hydrology. Both of this year’s recipients have thus had their scientific contributions recognised well beyond IAH.
Joe was a founder member and president (1972-1984) of the IAH Canadian National Chapter and IAH Vice President (1978-1982). He was an Associate Editor of “Hydrogeology Journal” from its inception in 1992 to 2000, and received the IAH President’s Award in 1999. Joe has also been instrumental in establishing the new IAH commission on regional groundwater flow. The large number of members in attendance at the General Assembly included many of Joe’s friends and colleagues from Canada and around the world, and the proposall to honour Joe in this way was warmly welcomed.
