The Baldi Memorial Lectures

Biographical profile of Edgardo Baldi (1899-1951)

The Baldi Memorial Lectures of the International Society of Limnology were established in 1952 to perpetuate the memory of Edgardo Baldi by stimulating research and inquiry within the field of theoretical limnology to which he devoted his life work. SIL honors one of its members by requesting a synthesis of a subject within theoretical limnology to be delivered as the foremost lecture at the initial General Assembly of each Congress. The selection of the lecturer is made by a committee elected by the International Committee of SIL, and consists of the President and General Secretary of SIL, and three members from different countries, one of which shall always be from Italy. The endowment of the Baldi Memorial Foundation in SIL provides a modest honorarium to the Lecturer.

The combination of the intellectual stimulation, research, and instruction in limnology that emanated from the Institute was so pervading and influential to the discipline that Italian was erected as one of the four initial official languages within SIL. That leadership position began with Baldi and has persisted with a continuing progression of excellent scientists and contributions to the development of limnology. It is to the memory of Edgardo Baldi's contributions and leadership that this primal lecture is dedicated.

Rules for the Administration of the Edgardo Baldi Memorial Foundation

1. The Edgardo Baldi Memorial Foundation is administered by the Baldi Memorial Committee according to the following rules adopted by the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology (SIL).
2. The aim of the Edgardo Baldi Memorial Foundation is to perpetuate the memory of Edgardo Baldi by stimulating research within the field of theoretical limnology to which he devoted his life work.
3. With this object in view, the interest accruing from the Edgardo Baldi Memorial Foundation shall be used, in the first place, to defray the honorarium and expenses for one Baldi Memorial Lecture on subjects within the realm of theoretical limnology, to be delivered at each General Assembly (International Congress) of the International Association of Limnology.
4. The selection of the Baldi Memorial Lecturer shall be decided by the Baldi Memorial Committee. The nomination should be announced, if possible, at the congress next before that at which the lecture is to be delivered.
5. The Baldi Memorial Committee shall consist of five members, two of which shall be the President and General Secretary of the International Association of Limnology (who shall act respectively as Chairman and Secretary of the Committee), the three others to be elected by the International Committee. The elected members shall represent three different countries, other than those (that) represented by the Chairman and the Secretary. Italy shall always be represented on the Baldi Memorial Committee. Re-election of members is permissible.
6. The Committee shall decide by vote, three members forming a quorum. If the voting is exactly even, the Chairman shall have a casting vote. Voting may be by correspondence.
7. If the International Association of Limnology be dissolved, its last General Assembly shall decide the future use ofthe Edgardo Baldi Memorial Foundation.

Baldi Lecturers

Congress	Year	Venue	Baldi Lecturer
12	1953	Great Britain	U. D'Ancona
13	1956	Finland	W. E. Ricker
14	1959	Austria	D. Jaag
15	1962	USA	J. W. G. Lund
16	1965	Poland	?
17	1968	Israel	H. W. Jannasch
18	1971	USSR	G. G. Winberg
19	1974	Canada	H. B. N. Hynes
20	1977	Denmark	P. M. Jónasson
21	1980	Japan	S. Horie
22	1983	France	Gene E. Likens
23	1986	New Zealand	David W. Schindler
24	1989	Germany	Robert G. Wetzel
25	1992	Spain	Arthur C. Benke
26	1995	Brazil	H. Décamps
27	1998	Ireland	Charles R. Goldman
28	2001	Australia	Jack F. Talling
29	2004	Finland	Wolfgang Junk
30	2007	Canada	Michio Kumagai

Page revised: 21 January 2010