Leo Picard (; 3 June 1900 – 4 April 1997), was an Israeli

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and an expert in the field of

hydrogeology Hydrogeology (''hydro-'' meaning water, and ''-geology'' meaning the study of the Earth) is the area of geology that deals with the distribution and movement of groundwater in the soil and rock (geology), rocks of the Earth's crust (ge ...

Biography

Yehuda Leo Picard was born in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1900, and studied at universities in

Freiburg Freiburg im Breisgau or simply Freiburg is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fourth-largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Its built-up area has a population of abou ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, in Germany, and in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and taught at the

University of Florence The University of Florence ( Italian: ''Università degli Studi di Firenze'') (in acronym UNIFI) is an Italian public research university located in Florence, Italy. It comprises 12 schools and has around 50,000 students enrolled. History The f ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Picard visited

Mandate Palestine The Mandate for Palestine was a League of Nations mandate for British administration of the territories of Palestine and Transjordanwhich had been part of the Ottoman Empire for four centuriesfollowing the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in Wo ...

in 1922 and emigrated there in 1924, where he established the Department of Geology at the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; ) is an Israeli public university, public research university based in Jerusalem. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Chaim Weizmann in July 1918, the public university officially opened on 1 April 1925. ...

. 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 Structural geology is the study of the three-dimensional distribution of rock units with respect to their deformational histories. The primary goal of structural geology is to use measurements of present-day rock geometries to uncover informati ...

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 The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

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 The Israel Prize (; ''pras israél'') is an award bestowed by the State of Israel, and regarded as the state's highest cultural honor. History Prior to the Israel Prize, the most significant award in the arts was the Dizengoff Prize and in Israel ...

, in

life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, ...

. * In 1981, he received the award of Yakir Yerushalayim (Worthy Citizen of Jerusalem) from the city of Jerusalem. City of Jerusalem official website * A street has been named after him in the Har Homa neighbourhood of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. * The Leo Picard Groundwater Research Center at the

Rehovot Rehovot (, / ) is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, about south of Tel Aviv. In it had a population of . Etymology Israel Belkind, founder of the Bilu (movement), Bilu movement, proposed the name "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

Biography

Awards and recognition

Works in English, French and German

References

See also