Alfred Haack receives award for his Life's Work in Budapest
But when he received an invitation from Budapest to give a speech at the 15th Tunnelling and Civil Engineering Conference of the Magyar Alagútépítő Egyesület (Hungarian Tunnelling Association) in November 2024 on the founding of the International Tunnelling Association (ITA) 50 years ago, he spontaneously accepted, as he had already established close contacts with his Hungarian colleagues during his own ITA presidency from 1998 to 2001.
He was very surprised when, after his speech in Budapest, he was presented with the ‘Pro Tunneling’ medal of honour for his life's work by Dr Pál György, Vice President of the Hungarian Tunnelling Association. ‘The Hungarian Tunnelling Association is an indispensable member of our ITA community,’ said the now 84-year-old Prof. Haack. ‘This prestigious honour from my Hungarian colleagues means a great deal to me.’
After being honoured at the symposium, Prof. Haack spent two more days with his Hungarian colleagues in Budapest. On the first day, he also took part in an interesting tour of the nuclear waste storage site in Bátaapáti, in the construction of which the Hungarian Tunnelling Association played a key role. Some of the radioactive waste produced in Hungary (low and medium-level radioactive waste) will be disposed of here in an underground repository. The second day was dedicated to an intensive sightseeing tour of Budapest, where Prof Haack was able to reminisce about times gone by in bright sunshine and with delicious Hungarian cuisine.
