From Murugesu Sivapalan's Response at the
presentation of
the John Dalton Medal in 2003 - for his pioneering
contributions to advancing the science of catchment hydrology
Response by Murugesu Sivapalan
Receiving a prestigious medal such as this should be an important
milestone in anybody's life, and in my case, I draw immense pleasure
from the fact I am the first Australian, first Asian, first Sri
Lankan and the first Tamil to win this medal. I am extremely
grateful to the European Geophysical Society for recognizing me in
this way and giving hope and inspiration to a whole generation of
young scientists in these countries, and elsewhere.
You have honored me for my supposed contributions to hydrology - to
be honest I am not sure I have done all that much to hydrology or if
hydrology will be any poorer had I not been there. However, what I
can say is that hydrology has indeed served me well, that my
decision to specialize in hydrology many years ago has been
vindicated. I chose to specialize in hydrology, back in 1975, during
the process of applying for a postgraduate scholarship to study at
the Asian Institute of Technology. The decision I made was an
intensely personal, lonely and risky decision, since there was
nobody to guide me, and no information was available to support it.
A pragmatic reason for choosing hydrology was that it substantially
increased my chances of winning a scholarship, as none of my
classmates was interested in hydrology, and I was therefore the lone
candidate.
A deeper reason for why I chose hydrology, however, was that I
thought hydrology fitted my personality better - my mistaken
conception of hydrology then, with my limited knowledge, was that it
was an "abstract" field. I liked the idea of speculating deeply
about nature, of not being able to rely on and be hampered by
traditional laws of physics, of not being concerned "with all the
gory details" - even though I was an engineer I was not so motivated
by the traditional engineering ways of studying things. This also
explains why I am still not much of a field experimentalist and not
much interested in so-called physically based models - I cannot be
so motivated by, or see through, the details - they do not fit my
personality. I was, and still am, more interested in developing
general concepts than in gathering or using detailed forms of
knowledge. The more I have come to enjoy my work and to receive the
rewards that have come my way, such as the John Dalton Medal, the
more I have come to realize what an inspired decision it must have
been over 28 years ago when I chose hydrology on a whim. Clearly in
hydrology I have found my true calling.
In accepting this medal I would like to give credit to a whole
community of people, who live all around the world, and have played
a big part in my development.
One needs to admit that, by any
measure, I have come a long way from humble beginnings back home in
Sri Lanka. Along the way I have been blessed to be associated with
people and faced circumstances that have propelled me to achieve
these heady heights:
1) parents who lit the "fire in the belly" that
is still burning bright,
2) teachers, students and colleagues who
have freely shared with me their knowledge and wisdom, and the
excitement for hydrology, and,
3) a wife and a family that took care
of "home affairs" so that I could devote every living moment to
pursuing my interest in hydrology. I want to make a special mention
of my many current and former students and post-docs who did the
bulk of the work for which I am being honored tonight.
Many of you know that I hail from Sri Lanka. But only a few of you
may know that an ancient name for Sri Lanka was Serendib.
Apparently, in ancient times some mythical princes of Serendib had
the knack for "making discoveries as if by accident" and the English
word "serendipity" has since come to describe this aspect of human
endeavour. I often tend to think that serendipity applies to many
things that have happened in my life. Of the many, indeed numerous,
people that I want to thank tonight, I want to mention a small
number by name, and all of them came into my life "as if by
accident" - in reality, though, a lot of hard work lay behind these
so-called "accidents":
1) my high school mathematics teacher, the
late Mr Ratnsabapathy, for literally discovering me and lifting me
up,
2) my wife Banumathy, for taking care of me and the family, and
for being a bedrock of support, with not much of a return,
3) Eric
Wood of Princeton University for pushing me to the limits of ability
and endurance that I did not then know I possessed,
4) Jörg Imberger
and the Centre for Water Research for giving me a precious
opportunity, raising my expectations, and supporting me to the hilt,
5) Günter Blöschl of the Technical University of Vienna for being my
greatest fan and greatest critic, and for introducing me to Europe,
and
6) Vijay Gupta for introducing me to PUB in 1997 at a most
critical time in my career. If at all I can take credit for
anything, it is for the hard work and endurance that generated the
good luck and fortune that helped bring these people into my life.
My success tonight owes a lot to the generosity of the human spirit
exhibited by these people, and indeed by all of the people, in all
continents, who have interacted me in one way or the other, for
which I am eternally grateful. Indeed, my success is a success for
humanity and for the human spirit, which is much more important to
me than any minor contributions I may have made to advancing
catchment hydrology. I thank you all for gracing this occasion
tonight and supporting me. Good evening.
