The "Water Nobel" to Andrea Rinaldo
21.03.2023
The world-renowned hydrologist and Professor at the University of Padua Andrea Rinaldo is awarded today, March 21, the Stockholm Water Prize 2023 for his ground-breaking research on river networks, demonstrating their significance in the spread of solutes, aquatic species, and diseases.
Professor Andrea Rinaldo is a leading authority in hydrologic sciences. His pioneering research has led to new insights into the complex ways in which water shapes the Earth’s surface and ecosystems, and has provided in-depth knowledge of how solutes and populations move at varying speed, both on and beneath the Earth’s surface.
Professor Rinaldo's quantitative analyses provide a fundamental understanding of rivers as ecological corridors. With the development and maintenance of such corridors being largely responsible for the spread of aquatic species and their populations, this research is key for helping policies and practices improve the preservation of species. Professor Rinaldo’s models for water’s role in disease transmission have been applied to real-world hotspots of diseases, such as cholera and schistosomiasis in Haiti, South Sudan, and Burkina Faso, linking fundamental research to real-life application.
On being awarded the Stockholm Water Prize, Professor Rinaldo said: “I am humbled by, and proud of, following in the footsteps of previous laureates, especially those I know – or knew and miss sorely – and admire wholeheartedly. I am very grateful to the Nominating Committee, the Stockholm International Water Institute, and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, for their selection and motivation.”
«Water is an essential good for everyone – says Prof. Andrea Rinaldo – as the poet W.H Auden writes "thousands have lived without love, not one without water".
My research and those of the people who have worked with me in recent years, had and have as its purpose to make the distribution of water equitable for all in the context of a general progressive reduction of social and economic inequalities and a correct ecological perception of the processes controlled by water.»
«The sustainable management of an essential asset such as water, a precious resource to be safeguarded, as it is limited, is a crucial challenge for our society – says Daniela Mapelli, rector of the University of Padua -. The University of Padua is therefore proud of the prestigious award given to Professor Andrea Rinaldo, whom I would like to congratulate. An award that goes to seal not only his extraordinary academic competence, but also the strong civil passion that has always seen him commit himself to a fair distribution of water, a fundamental objective to pursue the reduction of economic and social inequalities of the planet»
The Stockholm Water Prize is awarded by SIWI in cooperation with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
The Prize will be presented to the laurate Professor Rinaldo by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, official patron of the Prize, on 23 August, during World Water Week. Founding partners of Stockholm Water Prize are Ålandsbanken, Bacardi, PDJ Foundation, WEF, and Xylem.
