Rene Tavernier

Rene Tavernier was a Belgian geologist and soil scientist, born 26 August 1914 in Nevele, Belgium, and died 19 November 1992 in Ghent, who studied geology and mineralogy at the State University of Ghent and became its professor of physical geography in 1948, later expanding into geology teaching from 1952 onward. He was a principal builder of Belgium's soil taxonomy and soil-mapping programs, directing the country's Center of Soil Cartography and collaborating with the United States Department of Agriculture's Soil Conservation Service on shared soil classification systems, and he founded the International Soil Science Center at Ghent specifically to train students from developing countries. He served as president of the International Union of Soil Sciences from 1950 to 1954 and was later made an honorary member in 1986, and his research on Neogene sediments in Belgium earned him the Mac Leod Prize in 1935 and the Baron van Ertborn Prize in 1948.