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.
