Geoffrey Steel HUMPHREYS

Dear Soil Science Community,

Our friend and colleague, Geoff Humphreys, died suddenly on Aug. 12th while doing what he loved, running in the bush. Geoff was a good friend to me, a trusted and brilliant scientist who Chaired IUSS Commission 1.1 Soil Morphology and Micromorphology from 2002-2006, after which, he generously continued to serve as 2nd Vice Chair. As 2nd Vice Chair, in May 2007, he traveled to China (in my stead as I was unable to go), to help organize the 13th International Meeting of Soil Micromorphology which will be held Sept. 2008. I have been incredibly fortunate to call Geoff my friend. I served as his 2nd Vice Chair while he was Chair and could always count on him to answer my questions, willingly share his knowledge and trusted advice in all things. I, among many others, were fortunate to share with Geoff, good drinks, laughter, great times in the field, and deep discussions (including good arguments!) on our science and life in general - at the 2002 World Congress in Bangkok, the 12th International Soil Micromorphology Meeting in Adana Turkey, and the 2006 World Congress in Philadelphia USA. HIs wide smile, good humor, enormous energy, vast experience, enthusiasm, and deep knowledge of soil science has been valued by all and will be greatly missed. In honor of Geoff, we have created this web page in which we can all remember and share the good things he brought to our lives and our science. Thank you Geoff. We miss you. - Brenda

Geoffrey Steel HUMPHREYS died on August 12, 2007, doing what he loved. A huge loss will be felt by his family, friends & colleagues. Loving husband of Janelle. Devoted father of Sheridan, Lachlan, Rowan and William. Adored Pop to Max.

Remebmering Geoff

Obituary by Jonathan Gray and others from Macquarie University, Sydney (PDF)

Dear All, Words cannot alone express how sorry I am to hear this news of Geoff’ passing. In the last few years he had generously offer great help to organize the 13th International Meeting of Soil Micromorphology which will be held Sept. 2008. His traveling in China this May had built a good friendship to my Chinese colleague. Thank you Lord for sharing Geoff with us, even though it was such a short time. You and your family and our committee are in my prayers. - Xiubin He

Daniela Sauer created this poster - for Geoff

Here are the two photos taken September 2004 in Adana Turkey, International Micromorphology Meeting.

In memory of Geoff Humphreys by Alexander Tsatskin

I met Geoff at the Micromorphology Conference in Adana, Turkey (2004), but got to know him earlier through email which we maintained (including Brenda) as new officers of Soil Morphology Commission which Geoff had chaired since the 2002 Bangkok World Soil Congress. I believe it was not simple to establish a new commission with seemingly so outdated orientation at the age of amazing technological frontiers. As a chair, Geoff invested much effort to breathe a new life into field observations and showed their imperative even beyond soil genesis, e.g. for archaeology and anthropogenic site disturbances. He was keen to reconnect soil morphology and soil micromorphology, which did happen as legitimization of the new title of Commission 1.1 by the time of the 2006 Philadelphia Congress.

It is of course not about the new status of the Commission. It is the message and motivation for the soil science community and for a broader environmental, geological and archaeological audience. Due to achievements of optical microscopy, SEM, TEM, etc. in soil studies, our research is necessarily reduced to observations on increasingly detailed scale. But eventual success of soil sciences as part of Earth sciences, said Geoff, will be obtained when we, having generalized detailed (sub)microscopic details, come back to the point of departure – a soil profile. His understanding of hierarchy of soil organization is in tune with important achievements in pedology elsewhere and is a legacy of his own work which should not be forgotten. Trained by a famous Australian school, Geoff Humphreys paved way to truly modern, I would say, interdisciplinary micromorphological thinking. His phrase voiced in Philadelphia 2006 that "micromorphology is everywhere" is junotst a catch-word but kind of prophecy in which some at least believe.

I am deeply grateful to Geoff Humphreys for providing me a couple of years ago with support when I applied for a job offer. Since I happened to be turned down, he wrote to me keep plugging away. These words are always with me. I am deeply sad that his wonderful personality is no longer here.

My deep condolences to his family he surely adored.

Alexander Tsatskin
University of Haifa, Israel

Farewell, Geoff, My Friend, My Hero by Don Johnson

Like your family and all your friends and colleagues, I was stunned to hear last week that you left us. I have known you, Geoff, since the early 1980s, both as a friend and admired professional colleague. Recall that our interactions started in your pre-dissertation days when we early realized we shared mutual views on how soils form, and how landscapes evolve. Since those early days we have enjoyed regular communications, sharing ideas, views, and reprints. We thus developed a special camaraderie early on, leading eventually to mutual visits to our institutions. Our paths last crossed a year ago this past July at the 18th World Congress of Soil Science in Philadelphia. The four of us – you, Janelle, Diana, and I, had a long tasty breakfast mixed with warm conversation (you picked up the tab). 

Geoff, you always trusted my views on pedology and geomorphology, and appreciated them. I, likewise, trusted and appreciated yours. Ironically, and sadly now in retrospect, I had been expecting a letter any day from Macquarie requesting support for your impending promotion. Well, I can tell you that it would have been a good one. Life is indeed not fair. Nope, not fair at all. But it’s what we have.

Geoff, you were youngish and in mid-career when you left us – way too soon. Be advised that your colleagues in Australia, and we overseas, had great future professional expectations of you. Nevertheless, your legacy is rich and multifaceted: A family and friends with great memories of you, and close colleagues and friendships scattered about the world.  Professionally your legacy is crystal clear: Multiple world-class concepts in the fundamental processes of soils, geomorphology, and geoecology. In my office hang pictures of several heroes of mine. Prominent among them are Charles Darwin, James Thorp, and Francis Hole. I am adding yours to this special gallery. They, and you, have written elegantly and creatively about many themes in science. But the four of you, as a group, have written about one theme that is obviously very dear to your respective hearts – animal bioturbations. While the idea of soil mixing and horizonation by animals was early championed by Darwin, and partly promulgated much later by Thorp and Hole, it was mainly you, Geoff – you, Peter Mitchell, and your Macquarie colleagues who borrowed the term from ichnology, then effectively and proactively introduced it to pedology and geomorphology. Then, in several key papers, you showcased your message by demonstrating an array of bioturbations, which conceptually strengthened the entire process pantheon of pedology. New terms can operate powerfully in the service of science, and you proved it. By this one contribution, among many others of note, you accomplished what others could not. And by doing so significantly strengthened our field. I should also add that by doing so you significantly influenced and strengthened my own career.

So, I thank you, Geoff, for being a close colleague and peer, and for your warm friendship and interactions. Thanks too for significantly advancing our field in a great many ways through your good and timely writings. The field has indeed lost a bright star, but your creative light illuminates us all. I bid you farewell, my friend and my hero, with peace to your family.

Don Johnson, 18 August 2007
Champaign, Illinois, USA

DEAR GEOFFY,

REST IN PEACE WE AS YOUR FRIENDS , ARE HIGHLY PRIVILEGED TO HAVE HAD THE
UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE MET YOU AND LEARNED FROM YOU.

SELIM KAPUR.....

Pictures of Geoff (and Janelle) taken in Philadelphia last year.