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The 1997 Joseph A. Cushman Award
Source of this document: http://www.cushmanfoundation.org/awards/awardees/hottinger.html |
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Professor Hottinger was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, of Swiss nationality, in 1933. He attended primary and secondary schools in Basel, Switzerland, graduating in 1952 from Humanistisches Gymnasium Basel with studies in classical Greek and Latin. His major field of study at Basel University was Geology-Paleontology, with additional training in Mineralogy, Zoology and Botany. He is married to Monique Riggenbach and they have three sons. Professor Hottinger completed his Ph.D. thesis on Paleocene and Eocene Alveolina in 1959 under the direction of Professor Manfred Reichel. As a student, Lukas apparently worked day and night, thriving on late-night discussions with other students in the lab. His thesis on Paleogene Alveolina included genus and species definitions and changes through time, the concept of phylogenetic lineages, and their use in zonal biochronology. Published as a double volume of MÈmoires Suisse de PalÈontologie in 1960, this remains the authoritative work on these unique foraminifera. His perfect drawings, graphics and plates were true to the tradition of Reichel's school of micropaleontology, while demonstrating the innovative genius characteristic of Hottinger's lifelong works. As with many young paleontologists today, Lukas had to leave home to find early employment and to establish his career. Working at the Geological Survey of Morocco, he began his analyses and reconstructions of complex internal structures of the Liassic and Jurassic foraminifera. He continued this theme through his Habilitation thesis "ForaminifËres imperforÈs du Mesozoique Marocain." In 1964 he returned to Basel as Assistant Curator at the Natural History Museum, working under the same roof as his colleague and friend Hans Schaub. In 1966, Dr. Hottinger was elected to succeed Professor Reichel as Professor for Geology and Paleontology at the University of Basel. From this historic location, with its tradition of geological and paleontological investigations and with its enormously rich collections of specimens and thin sections, Lukas Hottinger has pursued his productive career for more than 30 years. Soon young researchers began to make their way to Basel to work with Professor Hottinger, including Hans Oesterle, Katica Drobne, Esmeralda Caus, Ursula Leppig, Suzanne Leutenegger, Edith Mueller-Merz, Martin Langer, and most recently, Jaqueline Reich and Saskia Hollaus. Before someone started to do a Ph.D. or masters thesis in Lukas' laboratory, he always told them that they had to be 'obsessed' with foraminifera before they entered the world of Micropaleontology. The reason is that he himself is addicted to foraminifera; he feels best when he is pursuing something that has to do with foraminifera. Professor Hottinger is equally an educator and a researcher, exemplifying how teaching contributes to innovative research and the converse. His classes in evolutionary micropaleontology and stratigraphy at the University of Basel are gems that are widely discussed even by students that have not taken them. He loves to teach at all levels, from lay audiences to doctoral students, and he is extraordinarily skilled in motivating students. Most of his former students have continued their collaborations with Lukas and have brought other colleagues into this large foraminiferal society. The friendly atmosphere and possibility for work in the "Geologisch-palaeontologisches Institut" connects researchers of the Paleogene Tethys from across the continents. Visitors and new students not only have Lukas' encouragement, but also the hospitality of Monika and their sons. Collaborators are consistently impressed with his intellectual, social and scientific skills, including his ability to troubleshoot problems with restless intellect and original insight. He speaks four languages (English, Italian, French and German) and he can switch from one to the other within seconds. His willingness to interact with people, his resourcefulness and his common sense are exemplary, showing through consistently in the laboratory, in the field, and in administrative offices. Professor Hottinger's career is characterized by a continuous record of outstanding scientific achievements, innovative discoveries, and a steady commitment to progress in science. His bibliography, widely respected by the international community, comprises over 120 papers and six monographs: "Recherches sur les Alveolines du Paleocene et de FEocene" (1960), "ForaminifËres imperforÈs du Mesozoique Marocain" (1967), "ForaminifËres operculiformes" (1977), "Early Tertiary conical foraminifera" (1980), "The Gulf of Aqaba, Ecological Micropaleontology" (1984), and "Recent foraminifera from the Gulf of Aqaba, Red Sea" (1993). A seventh monograph, "Paleocene and Eocene Rotaliids", is in preparation. These contributions range far over the geological landscape, including topics as diverse as stratigraphy, paleoecology, and evolution, and spanning the globe from the Indo-Pacific and Africa to the northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. Besides being a member of the Swiss Academy of Natural Sciences, in 1993 Professor Hottinger was honored with membership in the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and in 1997 was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa by Autonoma University of Barcelona, Spain. In 1970 he accepted the opportunity to lecture at Hebrew University in Israel, an invitation that led to a 25-year collaboration with Zeev Reiss. That collaboration produced major breakthroughs in our understanding, not only of larger foraminiferal ecology and their functional morphologies, but also of the oceanography of the Gulf of Aqaba. It also promoted Hottinger's growing interest in modern carbonate environments, leading to work in the Maldives, New Caledonia and the Mediterranean, and several publications on bioherms, rhodolites, bryozoans, deep coral bioherms, and applications of diving technology. Professor Hottinger has served on the editorial boards of several international journals. Over the years, his expertise and global perspective has continuously brought together leading scientists from all over the world. He was a voting member in the International Subcommission on Paleogene stratigraphy, and played key leadership roles in IGCP project 286 "Early Paleogene Benthos," aimed at understanding the recovery of K-strategists following the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary extinctions, in IGCP project 393 "Neritic events at the Middle/Upper Eocene," and in European COMETT activities. He has actively and effectively communicated the value of scientific research to political decision makers as a Scientific Consultant for many European governments and science foundations. He has applied his understanding of larger foraminiferal ecology and carbonate depositional environments to interpreting the results of anthropogenic nutrient pollution in Mauritius. His observations there resulted in a model for some types of fossilized hardgrounds, illustrating how the past contributes to understanding the present and vice versa. He also served with a group of Swiss experts studying disposal of radioactive wastes in the deep ocean. The Joseph A. Cushman Award serves two purposes. It honors major contributors to micropaleontology or foraminiferal research. It also provides a forum from which to inform young scientists as to how the awardees built their careers, met career challenges, followed their dreams to pursue scientific research, expanded their research focus with cross-disciplinary impact, and contributed to their students, to their scientific colleagues, and to society along the way. Professor Lukas Hottinger provides an outstanding role model in all of these areas. For these reasons and many more, the Board of Directors of the Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research is pleased to present Professor Lukas Hottinger with the 1997 Joseph A. Cushman Award for lifetime contributions to our field. PAMELA HALLOCK* * With assistance from Katica Drobne, Institute of Paleontology, Ljubljana, Slovenia; and Martin Langer, Institute and Museum for Geology and Paleontology, Tuebingen, Germany. Photograph by Carmen Narobe, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
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Lukas
Hottinger