In Memoriam: Beloved Geothermal Resources Council Member Passes

In Memory: Geothermal Energy Pioneer Marcelo Lippman (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory)

A celebration of life will be held at Live Oak Park Picnic Area #1 at 1301 Shattuck Avenue, in Berkeley on Saturday, October 13, from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Please visit the memorial page for Marcelo to share memories and pictures.

Marcelo J. Lippmann

Marcelo J. Lippmann, a long-time fixture in the Earth and Environmental Sciences Area, passed away at his home in Berkeley, on September 10, 2018, after a long bout with cancer. Marcelo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1939, and received his Bachelor of Science in geology from the University of Buenos Aires in 1966. He and his wife Martha then moved to California, where Marcelo continued with his studies, earning a Master of Science in 1969 and his Ph.D. in 1974 in Civil Engineering from UC Berkeley as part of Prof. Paul Witherspoon’s group.

After a short stint working at UC Berkeley, where he conducted research on numerical modeling of heat and mass transfer in geothermal systems, Marcelo moved up the hill to join Berkeley Lab in 1976, where he worked the remainder of his career. Marcelo’s expertise was in the modeling of geothermal systems, with a focus on determining their energy capacity and commercial longevity and designing sustainable exploitation strategies. Some of the systems he studied included Cerro Prieto, Mexico; Heber and The Geysers, USA; Miravalles, Costa Rica; Ahuachapán and Berlín, El Salvador. Together with Paul Witherspoon, Marcelo helped lead the Mexican-American cooperative program at the Cerro Prieto geothermal field from 1977 to 1982 and was a key member of many other international geothermal research projects.

Read More.........

A memoriam of Marcelo J. Lippmann will appear in the next GRC Bulletin and will be displayed at the GRC Annual Meeting & Expo, 14-17 October at the Peppermill Resort Spa & Casino, Reno, Nevada, USA.