Prof. Jiří Wanner to be awarded with William Dunbar Medal

Hennef/Munich, 4th. May 2008 – Prof. Jiří Wanner,
Ph. D. (55) is the new winner of William Dunbar Medal
awarded by European Water Association (EWA). The
Professor from the Institute of Chemical Technology
Prague received the prize in Munich during the Opening
Gala of IFAT 2008 – The 15th International Trade
Fair for Water – Sewage – Refuse – Recycling - on the
4th May 2008 from the President of the EWA, Peter
Cook (UK). Prof. Wanner has been honoured for his
excellent research work not only in the field of biological
waste water treatment and water protection but also
for his success of the intitiation and implementation of
international scientific Development, Research and
Education.
The Work of Prof. Jiří Wanners is put in more than 200
scientific publications and presentations. He formulated the
theory of the metabolic selection in biosolids, which describes
the driving forces of the elimination of nutrients.
The theory has been experimentally proved from him and
his co-workers. Prof. Wanner also worked on the topic of
population dynamics of microorganisms in sewage sludge
and the identification of bacteria in sewage sludge.
As mentioned by Mr. Peter Cook in his welcoming speech,
the high reputation of the Institute of Chemical Technology
Prague in the international scientific field is due to the
work of Prof. Wanner. The institute took part in other research
programmes in Italy, Austria, Hungary, and Australia.
Wanner was also an important driving force of the
Czech association ACE CR. Prof. Ji9í Wanner also had a
leading role in the International Water Association (IWA);
together with his colleague Prof. Petr Grau, he was the
initiator of the foundation of the IWA Specialist Group on
Activated Sludge Population Dynamics in 1988. He was
the president of EWA from 2005 to 2007.

William Dunbar – a Pioneer in the field of wastewater
treatment technology

The William Dunbar Medal has been sponsored by the
Munich Trade Fair Centre and awarded since 1973 by the
EWA every three years during IFAT. The prize consists of
one Golden Medal, Certificate and a monetary prize. The
medal is in memory of William Philipps Dunbar, born in
Minnesota (USA) in 1863, who came to Hamburg in 1892
due to dangerous cholera epidemics.
Dunbar developed further the method of identification of
the pathogens causing cholera and plague. His experiments
extended to the examination of the canalization and Elbe
waters, since the most common spreading paths of the pathogens
are the water. Dunbar researches were so fundamental,
that even today he is well known among the
wastewater treatment specialists.

source: EWA