Leo Picard (Hebrew: יהודה ליאו פיקרד; 3 June 1900 – 4 April 1997), was an Israeli geologist and an expert in the field of hydrogeology.
Biography Yehuda Leo Picard was born in Germany in 1900, and studied at universities in Freiburg and Berlin, in Germany, and in Paris and London, and taught at the University of Florence, Italy. Picard visited Mandate Palestine in 1922 and emigrated there in 1924, where he established the Department of Geology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In 1943, he published his book "Structure and Evolution of Palestine", which became a primary book for the study of geology in Israel. Leo Picard was an expert hydrogeologist and an outstanding general geologist. He wrote about paleontology and stratigraphy, structural geology and tectonics, mineralogy and ore deposits. Well-known is his contribution to the debate on the tectonics of the Dead Sea Rift. Picard was doubtful whether left-lateral offset of some 100 km took place along the Rift, and suggested instead that the rift was developed and constrained by extension.
In 1955, he was appointed president of the UNESCO committee of experts for arid areas. Following such appointment, he became an international consultant, and his investigations have assisted the development of many countries in Africa and Latin America. He died in 1997 in Kibbutz Ginegar in northern Israel.
Awards and recognition From 1951 to 1953, Picard served as the first president of the Israel Geological Society. In 1958, he was awarded the Israel Prize, in life sciences. In 1981, he received the award of Yakir Yerushalayim (Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem) from the city of Jerusalem. A street has been named after him in the Har Homa neighbourhood of Jerusalem. The Leo Picard Groundwater Research Center at the Rehovot campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is named after him.
Works in English, French and German 1923, Die fraenkische Alb von Weissenburg i. B. und Umgebung 1928, Ein Eocaenprofil des Gilboas in Palaestina 1928, Zur Geologie der Kischon-Ebene 1929, Zur Geologie der Besan-Ebene 1930, Upper Cretaceous (chiefly Campanian and Maestrichtian) Gasteropoda and Pelecypoda from Palestine 1931, Geological researches in the Judean desert : with geological map and illustrations 1932, Zur geologie des mittleren Jordantales :(zwischen Wadi El-Oeschsche und Tiberiassee) 1933, Zur postmiocänen Entwicklungsgeschichte der Kontinentalbecken Nord-Palästinas 1936, Conditions of underground water in the Western Emek (plain of Esdraelon) 1936, On the geology of the Gaza-Beersheba district 1937, On the structure of the Arabian Peninsula 1937, On the geology of the central coastal plain : with a geological sketch map and 7 figures in the text 1938, The geology of New Jerusalem 1939, Outline on the tectonics of the earth :with special emphasis upon Africa 1940, Groundwater in Palestine 1943, Structure and evolution of Palestine, with comparative notes on neighbouring countries 1952, Geomorphogenic regions of the Negev, 1:250,000 1952, Geomorphogeny of Israel 1954, The structural pattern of Palestine, Israel and Jordan 1962, Rapport d’une mission d’etude geologique au Dahomey 1963, The quaternary in the Northern Jordan Valley 1964, Geological map, Israel 1965, The geological evolution of the quaternary in the central-northern Jordan Graben, Israel 1966, Vom Bodensee nach Erez Israel : Pionierarbeit fur Geologie und Grundwasser seit 1924 1966, Stratigraphic position of the Ubeidiya formation 1966, Geological report on the lower Pleistocene deposits of the Ubeidiya excavations 1968, On the structure of the Rhinegraben with comparative notes on Levantgraben feature 1973, General aspects of Israel’s oil search 1974, The Triassic 1987, The Jurassic stratigraphy in Israel and the adjacent countries
References
See also List of Israel Prize recipients
