Alfred Haack Honoured for His Life‘s Work in Budapest
After his trip to China for the World Tunnel Congress in April 2024 (see tunnel issue 4/2024), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alfred Haack had actually decided not to accept any more invitations from abroad due to his advanced age. But when he received an invitation from Budapest to give a speech in November 2024 at the 15th Tunnelling and Civil Engineering Conference of the Magyar Alagtépítő Egyesület (Hungarian Tunnelling Association) on the founding of the International Tunnelling Association (ITA) 50 years ago, he spontaneously accepted – because Alfred Haack had developed many close contacts with his Hungarian colleagues during his own ITA presidency from 1998 to 2001.
He was greatly surprised when Dr. Pál György, Vice President of the Hungarian Tunnelling Association, presented him with the “Pro Tunneling” medal of honour for his life‘s work after his speech in Budapest. “The Hungarian Tunnelling Association is an indispensable member of our ITA community,” said the now 84-year-old Prof. Haack. “This prestigious award from my Hungarian colleagues means a great deal to me.”
After being honoured at the symposium, Prof. Haack stayed with his Hungarian colleagues for two more days. On the first day, he took part in an interesting technical tour of the nuclear waste storage site in Bátaapáti, in the construction of which the Hungarian Tunnelling Association played a key role. This is where some of the radioactive waste (low and medium-level radioactive) produced in Hungary is deposited in an underground repository. The second day was dedicated to an intensive city tour of Budapest, where Prof. Haack was able to reminisce in the bright sunshine and enjoy delicious Hungarian cuisine.
