Leo Picard

Leo Yehuda Picard was born in 1900 in Konstanz, Germany.[1] He pursued an academic career in the natural sciences, earning a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Freiburg in 1923 and subsequently studying for a period at the University of Florence.[1]

In 1924, Picard immigrated to Palestine, where he initially worked for Keren Kayemet before joining the newly founded Hebrew University of Jerusalem the following year.[1] At the Hebrew University, he was attached to the Natural History Department, where he was the sole geologist among three young staff members working under the supervision of Otto Warburg.[1]

During his early years at the Hebrew University, Picard continued to develop his scholarly credentials internationally. He conducted research in Paris in 1926, and with the support of the Royal Society later worked at Imperial College, University of London, where he earned a D.Sc.[1]

Picard's academic career at the Hebrew University advanced steadily over the following decades. He became a lecturer in 1934, was appointed head of the geology department in 1936, and attained the rank of professor in 1939.[1] He also founded the Department of Geology on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, which became the institutional base for systematic geological research into the land and natural resources of Israel.[2]

From the outset of his work in Palestine, Picard took on the task of surveying territory that was geologically uncharted. When he arrived, Jerusalem was described as the only fully surveyed area in the country.[1] He carried out the first geological surveys of the Jezreel Valley and the Haifa region, and contributed to the first study of mineral deposits in the Judean Desert.[1] During the British Mandate period, his research concentrated especially on water resources and minerals such as phosphates and potash, work sponsored by the Jewish Agency and published in international scientific journals.[2]

A concrete illustration of his applied geological work appeared in a 1947 account describing Picard's efforts for the Matzuba settlement in Galilee. After earlier attempts to find water had failed, he conducted an intensive survey of the area's geological structure, identified drilling points, and located a water-bearing level at a depth of 65 meters on the third attempt.[3] The discovery was reported to have solved the settlement's water problem, with irrigation from underground reservoirs increasing crop yields substantially across arid parts of Palestine.[3]

Picard also initiated the systematic collection and archiving of maps, articles, books, rocks, and fossils, a collection that later became the national archive hosted by the Geological Survey of Israel.[2] He also visited sites of active land development, including the drying operations at Lake Hula.[4]

Following Israel's establishment in 1948, Picard submitted a memorandum to the new government proposing the creation of an independent Geological Survey of Israel. The survey initially operated as part of the Hebrew University's geology department before separating in 1953 to become a government institute under the Ministry of Development.[2] He directed a comprehensive geological survey of Israel from 1950 to 1954.[1]

During the 1948 War of Independence, Mount Scopus became an enclave surrounded by Jordanian military forces, and the Hebrew University, including the geology department, relocated to the Jewish-held part of Jerusalem, with materials from the Mandatory Geological Unit transferred to the new site.[2]

Picard's expertise included surveys for petrochemical and water resources, and he also conducted research and teaching in paleontology.[1] Beyond Israel, he conducted geological surveys for governments and organizations in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America.[1] He served as chairman or adviser on national and international committees associated with UNESCO, the United Nations, and geological conferences focused particularly on arid-region problems.[1] He also played a major role in organizing the study and teaching of geology and geography in Israel following independence, maintaining high academic standards throughout.[1]

Picard's written output spanned both foundational research and applied geology. Among his major works were Geological Researches in the Judean Desert, which included a geological map and illustrations and carried an introduction by J. W. Gregory;[5] The Geology of New Jerusalem;[6] and On the Geology of the Central Coastal Plain, which featured a geological sketch map and figures.[7]

His 1943 monograph Structure and Evolution of Palestine with Comparative Notes on Neighboring Countries was a 134-page publication issued by the Hebrew University.[2] In 1996, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities published his Pioneering Geology of Erez Israel: Benchmarks in the Exploration of Ground Water and Natural Resources, a Hebrew-language work of 155 pages accompanied by 55 pages of photographic tables.[2] His publications on both basic and applied geology were recognized for their research and educational distinction.[1]

Picard received the Israel Prize for natural sciences in 1958.[1] In 1961, he was elected to the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and he held membership in numerous national geological societies.[1]

Picard's early studies marked the beginning of geological mapping in Israel and formed the foundation of geological studies in the country.[2] He was also a past director of the Geological Survey of Israel and a recipient of the Israel Award for Earth Sciences, described as the country's highest award in that field.[2] The breadth of his work—from water-resource surveys that supported agricultural development, to international consultancy, to the institutional architecture of Israeli geological science—made him a foundational figure in the discipline's emergence in the modern State of Israel.