NOTÍCIA

 

Henrique Andrade (1960-2013)

 

 

Viriato Soromenho-Marques¹

1 Full Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculdade de Letras, Universidade de Lisboa, Alameda da Universidade, 1600-214 Lisboa, Portugal. email: viriatosmarques@netcabo.pt

Montaigne claimed that philosophy was a learning exercise to prepare ourselves for death. But the truth is that we are never quite prepared for what we know to be inevitable. More so than any other scientific domain, philosophy is always an imperfect and incomplete form of knowledge in the task of preparing ourselves for death. Especially when death strikes a friend and a colleague with whom we work. In a sudden and cruel blow, Henrique Andrade disappeared from the midst of his friends and colleagues; without notice on 9 January 2013. A few days earlier we had exchanged notes on our semester course on "environment in Europe"; that we were both going to teach in this school-year.

Henrique Andrade was a professor and researcher at the University of Lisbon; initially with the Department of Geography and later on with the institute of Geography and Planning (IGOT), when the reorganisation of geographical studies within the University of Lisbon took place. His students and colleagues will remember the attention to detail he put into the preparation of lectures, his patience, dedication and commitment to students. He was tireless when explaining and decoding concepts and complex problems. But his memory will live on within the national and international scientific community through his lasting studies and articles in the field of climatology, especially in the urban environment under the scenario of climate change and its various types of impact. In 1994 Henrique Andrade addressed the subject of air quality in the city of Lisbon, in his dissertation for a master's degree. a decade later his doctoral thesis focused on a domain unheard of until then in Portugal - the human bioclimatology in the Portuguese capital.

Gifted with a very circumspect temperament, with a capability to focus on others that nearly made him forget his own person, such was his reservation and personal detachment, Henrique Andrade was an investigator used to work in teams. He felt comfortable with colleagues from other disciplines and from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. With Henrique Andrade it wasn't hard to believe in an idea of science in which authorship is not a matter of national loyalties, or dependencies on interests' groups, but rather a passionate commitment to the study of a universal cause. and, in fact, what other more universal cause has science nowadays than the worrisome issue of climate change? it is the biggest threat to the existence of 9 or 10 billion human beings who will suffer their most lethal blows from the middle of this century onwards. Henrique Andrade belonged to this army of researchers that provide society and the political power with all the empirical and conceptual information necessary to put in place good public policies in urban planning, transport planning and energy. We often talked about the dramatic paradox of our times: there has never been a society so full of information, painfully plucked from ignorance, but, at the same time, we have never had so many mediocre, lazy and irresponsible politicians that are only concerned with their next electoral scores...

Over the past few years, Henrique Andrade had been working on far-reaching projects of social interest, such as the relationships between climate and human health and between climate and tourism as a key economic activity. The latter has enormous relevance for the economic planning in a country that wants to regain its dignity and flexibility. The historical climatology also raised his interest, given its importance to identify, without room for equivocation, the singularities of the climate issue in the 21st century. Like so many other worthy lives, Henrique Andrade's came to an end when there was so much to expect from it.

Throughout his working life he was always someone who generously put himself at the service of others. it is now time to honour him through the active memory of all the work that we will continue to perform, with the certainty that it is the search for truth that gives value and justifies the existence of individuals. Henrique Andrade's life was not in vain. it will be felt in all the echoes from his work that will continue to resonate from the work of many dozens of researchers in many points of this endangered planet.

 

NOTE

This text was adapted and translated from the one the author published in Jornal de Letras, on 23^rd January 2013.