ABSTRACT
LEOPOLD 08.10. 1915 Albuquerque NM/USA 23.02. 2006 Berkeley CA/USA Luna Bergere Leopold graduated from University of California UCLA, Berkeley CA, with the MS in 1944, and received the PhD title in 1950 from Harvard University, Cambridge MA. The DSc. title was awarded in 1980. Leopold remained from 1938 to 1941 with the Soil Conservation Service SCS, joined the US Bureau of Reclamation in 1946, was from 1950 to 1971 hydraulic engineer with the US Geological Survey USGS, and finally became until retirement professor of geology at UCLA. Leopold was the recipient of the 1958 Distinguished Service Award from the Department of Interior, the 1968 Cullum Geographical Medal from the American Geographical Society, the 1983 Busk Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, the 1989 Linsley Award from the American Institute of Hydrology, or the 1991 National Medal of Science. Leopold was the first to turn a scientific eye on rivers and streams drawing conclusions about their form and evolution. Long before fractals became an everyday word, he realized the similarity between large-and small-scale stream characteristics. In the 1950s he discovered with a colleague that river width, depth and velocity increase at a similar rate for nearly all rivers as the discharge increases downstream. This finding has been essential to theoretical and practical studies of rivers. He later travel led widely in Europe and Asia, writing on the nature of rivers, the problems of water and sediment supply, flood control, climate change, environmental planning, ecological restoration, scientific ethics, and the broader relationship between people and nature. This led to explanations for the natural form of rivers. He published some 200 papers and numerous books during a career spanning almost seventy years. Anonymous (1972). Luna B. Leopold. Eos 53(1): 18. P Anonymous (1975). Luna B. Leopold. Water Resources Bulletin 11(1): 200-201. P Anonymous (1993). Luna B. Leopold. Eos 74(29): 323-324. P Anonymous (2000). Leopold, Luna B. Who’s who in America 54: 2880. Marquis: Chicago. Leopold, L.B. (1953). Downstream change of velocity in rivers. American Journal of Science 251(8): 606-624. Leopold, L.B., Maddock, Jr., T. (1954). The flood control controversy. Ronald: New York. Leopold, L.B., Wolman, M.G., Miller, J.P. (1964). Fluvial processes in geomorphology. Dover: New York. Leopold, L.B. (1994). A view of the river. Harvard University Press: Cambridge MA.
