Dr. Alex Horne’s childhood was in devastated northern England following WW2. Rivers were fishless, colored with waste dyes, and coated with detergent foam. Thick, yellow smog and acid rain dissolved church limestone walls. Coal mine tip leachates killed even sticklebacks in small streams. His hobby of butterfly observations vanished as pesticide use spread in the 1950s. No wonder he wanted to fix Nature! An undergraduate degree in Biochemistry at Bristol University (England) lead to graduate research at Westfield College (University of London, England) & Dundee University (Scotland), pioneering the in-situ use of stable and radioisotopes in phycology, limnology, and oceanography in 5 continents. He served as a professor for 32 years in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley (1971-2003). Initially hired just after the first Earth Day he was the nearest Engineering got to an ecologist. Horne taught Ecology and Management of lakes, reservoirs, ocean, rivers, and of course, wetlands. Including extension courses he taught about 5,000 students and guided 23 doctorate and many masters students. His lectures (sometimes with guitar and wetland songs) received an award from the Student’s Union as one of the things not to miss while at Berkeley. 

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He has written over 360 publications and reports including a popular textbook, Limnology (includes wetlands). He has designed over 12,000 acres of constructed treatment wetlands all over the world, pioneering the concept of contaminant treatment married to wildlife habitat and human aesthetics. He has developed new restoration methods for surface waters including pure oxygen injection to reduce nutrients and algae. He has continued over the 20 years since retirement as a consultant which has resulted in 88 more publications, 100,000 more adult Chinook salmon in California rivers, 800 more Least Bell’s Vireos in a southern California wetland, and more black-faced spoonbills in coastal China.

He was also an early President of the California Lake Management Society and committee member and reviewer for many societies and journals. His rock band, Mo’ Waters, founded 43 years ago, plays environmental “fix it” songs when needed. His autobiography “A Wet Life” nears completion. He thanks everyone who has helped him make a successful career. Even more than Isaac Newton, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”