Hans Leo Lukas

It is with great sadness that we inform you that Leo Lukas passed away on the 22nd of October this year. Leo was a member of the MSIT at the very start of the programme, way back in 1985, attending the first Ringberg meeting, and he made a significant contribution to the development of the MSIT standards for critical intellectual evaluation of constitutional data. As a member of the MSIT Board, Leo was always very helpful in solving scientific disputes between authors and reviewers, which was of great help to the editorial office. Leo was a 'gentle giant' of a man. Very softly spoken but with a razor sharp mind. He would ponder a problem or a question quietly for quite a few moments, before giving the perfect solution.

Leo is probably most well known for his software for the optimisation of thermodynamic parameters in the assessment of phase diagrams. His pioneering work in the 1970s led to BINGSS and TERGSS; computer programs for the optimisation of binary and ternary systems. Many people in the Calphad community performed their first optimisations using Leo's software, and for them, the programs will be the gold standard against which all other software for Computational Thermodynamics will be compared. But it was because of the generous nature of the man that he made his software freely available to those who wished to use it. Moreover, he was more than happy to make changes or additions to the code on the suggestion of anyone that used it. Leo came from that generation that was active in the 'Golden Years' of Calphad in the 70s and 80s. When collaboration was King and people exchanged ideas and computer software all for the advancement of science. Sadly, with the advent marketing departments and sales targets those days are gone, and there are not many of the 'Golden Generation left; and we owe them all so much. Leo will be missed by the whole 'Phase Diagram and Thermodynamics' community, but not more than those that worked with him, especially his many students.