Tribute to Professor Jacques C. J. Nihoul
“The secret of the sea is that of this multifaceted interdependence between physical, chemical and biological processes, of these complex interactions with its borders, coasts, bottom sediments, atmosphere and of these diverse and permanent exchanges between the living and non-living components. Oceanography is interdisciplinary and pollution is there to remind us”.
These sentences were uttered in 1972 by Professor Jacques C. J. Nihoul, pioneer of interdisciplinarity in oceanography. At a time when the sciences of oceanography are compartmentalized, the sagacity of the words impresses. Jacques Nihoul takes advantage of a forum offered to him at the launch of the Sea Project of the National Program on the Physical and Biological Environment to clearly demonstrate that the preservation of ecosystems can only be done by integrating the knowledge acquired in biology, chemistry, physics, sedimentology, meteorology, engineering, economics and sociologists. This was the launch of the Sea program that brings together more than 200 researchers from different fields. Almost 50 years later, the word interdisciplinarity is at the heart of all international ocean programs. The Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development launched by the United Nations in February 2021 is one of the best illustrations of this.
Graduated in physical engineering from the Liège University in 1960, in mathematics from the Massachussetts Institute of Technology in 1961, he obtained a PhD in applied mathematics and theoretical physics from the University of Cambridge in 1965. He was then appointed Professor at the Louvain University in 1965 and full professor at the Liège University in 1966 at less than 30 years old. His research activities on the fundamentals of marine hydrodynamics and turbulence led him to propose mathematical models of ocean physical processes. These models will be then extended to include the evolution equations for biogeochemical components initiating coupled physical-biogeochemical models. This leads to the first interdisciplinary models of the North Sea. Jacques Nihoul received in 1978 the prestigious Francqui Prize for his achievements in the field of modelling and his preeminence in the Sea program that have contributed to increase the prestige of Belgium on the international scene.
His teachings of rational mechanics and fluid mechanics were a unique experience that marked generations of students. Every engineer trained at the Liège University remembers Jacques Nihoul's lessons. His extraordinary personality could not leave indifferent. Abundant and sparkling spirit, endlessly passionate about new scientific questions, he was a source of inspiration for his researchers. Being his PhD student connected you to the highest-level oceanographic research and offered you the privilege of talking with the most prestigious scientists. He was keen to support his researchers and push them out of their comfort zone in order to achieve the best for themselves. We owe him a lot.
Jacques Nihoul is one of the few personalities who have made Liège a world-renowned center for oceanography. And, if today, the University of Liège includes a teaching stream in ocean modeling and is involved in international research programs, this is the legacy of Jacques Nihoul. If there is an impressive number of renowned oceanographers in research centers around the world who have been trained in Liège, it is also his legacy. If every year in May, for more than 50 years, researchers from all over the world have been coming to Liège to discuss the burning questions in oceanography, this is also the legacy of Jacques Nihoul. The Liège Ocean Colloquium is a globally recognized event, unique in oceanography, initially launched for talking about turbulence and then extended to other topics.
Jacques Nihoul has left us on May 6, 2021. His legacy is colossal, is still impacting the ocean science community and will not be forgotten.
