It is very sad to hear the news about Albert Hesse. I first met and got to know Albert at conferences in the 1990s, although I think I first came into contact with him at the ‘Geoprospection in the Archaeological Landscape’ meeting in Bournemouth (1989). Albert was a tour de force at conferences – he was a great listener and a fantastic contributor. He had a terrific knack of treating everyone the same and was always willing to share his vast knowledge. A month or so after seeing him at a conference a selection of off-prints (remember them?!) would arrive to illustrate some point that we had talked about over coffee. In the pre-internet days such help was really important.
His book ‘Prospections géophysique a faible profondeur: applications a l’archéologie’ was published in 1966 and was a revelation to me when I found a copy. That book evidenced him as a true pioneer in archaeological geophysics. Working with him at Wroxeter, 30 years later, I found that he was no less innovative or interested in our discipline than he had been at the start of his career.
Carl Heron mentioned that Albert took us to a Turkish Bath in Ankara. It was probably the same occasion that on the coach back to the hotel from the conference dinner Albert decided that everyone was far too quiet. He broke into song, and entertained everyone to a selection of beautiful French songs all the way back home. A lovely memory of a really nice guy.
When he retired he told me that he was winding down to spend more time with his pipe and his paints. He will be missed by many.
The attached is a photo from Wroxter (and includes Michel Debas, Dean Goodman and Yasushi Nishimura).