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

摘要

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).