For his pioneering contributions to the engineering of groundwater hydrology and soil pollution processes by developing stochastic models of groundwater flow and the passage of pollutants in a porous substrate and for his contributions to inaugurate generations of engineers and scientists in these fields
The Rothschild Prize for 2006 was awarded, among other things, to scientist Prof. Gideon Dagan from the Faculty of Engineering at Tel Aviv University.
The Rothschild Prizes have been awarded since 1959 to outstanding scientists in mathematics, physical sciences, chemical sciences, life sciences, agriculture, engineering, humanities, Jewish sciences and social sciences. The purpose of the awards is to help, encourage and promote science and culture in Israel. The awards are given once every two years, each time in four or five fields. The Council for Rothschild Awards has eight members and consists of representatives of the Rothschild family, academic institutions in Israel, the Israeli National Academy of Sciences and the Israeli government.
After a series of discussions, the Rothschild Prize Council, chaired by Prof. Judit Birak, decided to award the Rothschild Prize for 2006, among other things, to scientist Prof. Gideon Dagan, from the Faculty of Engineering at Tel Aviv University
For his pioneering contributions to the engineering of groundwater hydrology and soil pollution processes by developing stochastic models of groundwater flow and the passage of pollutants in a porous substrate and for his contributions to inaugurate generations of engineers and scientists in these fields.
Prof. Dagan is one of the founders of the new field of stochastic subsurface hydrology that has been developed over the past 25 years. In this approach, water flow and pollutant movement models address the effect of spatial changes on soil properties. This variability, characterized by uncertainty, is represented with the help of stochastic models. The models are used to analyze and predict soil and groundwater contamination processes, which endanger the quality of drinking water in different parts of the world.
The international community recognized Prof. Dagan's achievements: his winning the Stockholm Water Prize (1998), the Horton Medal of the American Geophysical Union (2005) and an honorary doctorate from the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris (1997).
