Unfortunately I have to report that Albert Hesse has died on 2nd July 2022. He was one of the pioneers of archaeological geophysics and helped to establish the subject as a discipline not only in France but across Europe. He dedicated his engineering doctorate to the early evaluation of various techniques (1966: Prospections géophysiques a faible profondeur. Applications a l'archéologie. Paris: Dunod) and undertook several seasonality tests. He became the director of the CNRS geophysics research centre in Garchy/France in 1982 where experiments on its test site led to further scientific evaluations of various geophysical techniques for archaeology (most notably LFEM). Student exchanges between Garchy and Bradford/UK led to international collaborations and the exchange of ideas.
With his scientific and engineering background Albert was always driven by the conviction that these methods can help with archaeological enquiries and he undertook surveys not only in France, but also in many other countries, from Mexico to India and often in the Middle East.

Most of all he will be remembered as a great mentor and enabler who inspired younger researchers and helped them to flourish. He was an ISAP Honorary Member since the beginning in 2004. And will be missed by many.

Armin Schmidt (Chair), 3 July 2022

A short CV was published by the LBI-ArchPro as part of the conference 'Pioneering Archaeological Prospection' in 2011.

Contributions in Honour of Albert Hesse

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