planetwater

In the past, I had written about hydrogeology books, and back then I mentioned Daniel Hillel’s book “Environmental Soil Physics” for variably saturated hydrology.

I still think it is an awesome book, but I never knew much about the author — until I read today on Dot Earth about Daniel Hillel, and how he was awarded this year’s World Food Prize, mainly for his innovations related to drip irrigation in agriculture.

Daneil Hillel introduced drip irrigation in Japan in 1971. Source: http://photos.state.gov/libraries/amgov/3234/week_2/06112012_WFP-IntroducingDripIrrJapan1971PR_jpg_300.jpg

Andrew Revkin on DotEarth posted a nice youtube video of a talk given by Hillel in which he points out how everything is interconnected. Based on that interconnectedness, he deduces that “we must study more and more about more and more”, and because we are limited, we need to associate and co-operate.

I like that approach! How many hydrogeologists look bewildered if they hear the soil science term “matric potential” or the expression of potentials in general. This should not be a barrier to the wonderful world of soil science, nor to the wonderful textbook by Daniel Hillel!

Congratulations!