Albert was special. He was charming, witty and warm while simultaneously being firm in his strive for the best solutions and unrelenting in his insistence that everyone should be doing the best they can to achieve good research outcomes. When he came to Bradford for Arnold Aspinall’s 80th birthday celebrations (see photos; © Armin Schmidt) he presented me with a copy of his PhD thesis and strongly suggested that I should study particularly the section on seasonality tests in earth resistance measurements. The next time we met, at an ICAP conference, he then asked me what I had learned from his work. Unfortunately, I had to admit that due to my limited command of French I had not got very far with it. “You’d better improve your French so that you can read the relevant literature” was his reply, presented with a disarming smile. Who could have argued with that?
I often talked with him about the research facilities he had set up in Garchy (France). Such a dedicated CNRS research centre for archaeological geophysics allowed many of the early breakthroughs in French research, including the work on dual-phase LFEM instruments and on the mobile earth resistance arrays that were tested there. Setting up a student exchange programme with the University of Bradford together with Arnold Aspinall also allowed many British students to experience such French research – and hospitality.
Most of all Albert was the inspiration for many researchers to conduct their work to the highest standards and with a dedication for the subject that he instilled in them. He is much loved by many and dearly missed.