IAMG 2001--Cancún Technical Program--Session D

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Matheron's Contributribution to Geostatistics by Margaret Armstrong* and Alain Galli, Centre de Géostatistique, Fontainebleau, France George Matheron passed away on 7 August 2000, during the week when the 31st International Geological Congress was being held in Rio de Janeiro. During a career that spanned over 40 years Matheron laid the foundations of geostatistics as we know it today, as well as making significant contributions to a wide range of fields such as mathematical morphology, random sets and porous media. He was the driving force behind most of the important theoretical developments from linear geostatistics to conditional simulations, non-linear and non-stationary geostatistics. But equally importantly he had the ability and the insight into practical problems to produce tailor made solutions. This paper reviews his contribution to the development of geostatistics, showing how it fitted into the scientific context at the time when it was developed.