In Memoriam: Distinguished Professor Paul G. Marinos (1944-2021)

The following obituary was prepared and presented by the International Association for Engineering Geology and the Environment (IAEG).

May the earth be light to you, rest in peace Prof. Paul Marinos

We are very sad to announce that the Former President of IAEG, Prof. Paul Marinos, passed away last Sunday morning.

He was very happy after being awarded the title of the Honorary President of IAEG on October 8th. His son Vassilis said that he considered it the greatest gift. He was hoping for it so much. Vassilis believes he resisted and gave himself a few extra days of his life to receive this award and to see the success of the 3rd European Conference of IAEG. Then, he left.

May the earth be light to you, rest in peace Paolo. We will remember you by many excellent lectures you have held on many tours around the world, by various consultancy activities regarding important construction works which addressed very challenging engineering geology problems, and as a teacher who, through high-level courses and superb field trips, educated thousands of students.

Finally, we recall your visits to a large number of National Groups of IAEG, during which you tried to identify key people and encourage them to promote collaborations in countries where there was no IAEG activity.

• "Paul talks about his IAEG" from the book for the 50th anniversary of IAEG

Prof. Dr. Paul G. Marinos

Dr Paul Marinos received a Mining Engineering degree from the School of Mines of the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, in 1966, a postgraduate degree in Applied Geology from the University of Grenoble, France, and his Doctorate in Engineering Geology from the same University in 1969. He worked for French and Greek big design and construction companies until 1977 and then was elected as Professor at Democritus University in Northern Greece. From 1988 Dr Marinos was Professor of Engineering Geology in the School of Civil Engineering in the National Technical University of Athens, where he served as head of the Geotechnical Section of the School for several years. From 2001 to 2004 and from 2006 to 2008 he was the Director of a Graduate Course in Tunneling and Underground Construction. For more than 40 years he acted as independent consulting engineer in Engineering Geology and Geotechnics or as a member of panel of experts for important engineering structures and infrastructure works, such as dams and tunnels, landslide-rock slide cases and water resources projects, around the world: Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Cyprus, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Greece, France, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kosovo, Lebanon, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Nepal, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Laos, Rwanda, Serbia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Turkey, Uganda, Ukraine and Zambia. 

Dr Marinos research endeavors advanced the state-of the art on a variety of applications of geology to engineering, mainly rock mass characterization, weak rock properties and behavior, karstic terrain, with special emphasis to engineering design and construction. Dr Marinos authored or co-authored over 320 papers in highly ranked journals or major conference proceedings. He was a key or invited lecturer in more than 120 conferences or special events worldwide. Throughout his academic and consulting life, he received numerous awards, the most characteristic of which are:

• Knighted in the order of “Palmes Académiques” from the French Republic (2014)
• Hans Cloos medal, Intern. Association of Engineering Geology (IAEG, 2001)
• André Dumont medal of the Geological Society of Belgium (1999)
• 6th Glossop Lecture and medal of the Geological Society of London (2002)
• 19th Rocha Lecture in Lisbon (2002)
• The 2010 Jahns Distinguished Lecturer and award of the Geological Society of America and the Association of Engineering Geologists (being the 1st Lecturer chosen from outside North America, since the creation of the award in 1987)