On Thursday, February 2, Vít and I set about preparing a detailed overview of this year’s continuation of the CO2-SPICER project. We expected we would complete the overview on Friday, February 3. We will not. We will have to complete the entire project without Vít, and it will be challenging without him. We will miss him very much there!
Vít completed his studies in applied geophysics at the Faculty of Science of Charles University in 1986 and passed the rigorous examination in 1988. In 1986, Vít joined Geofyzika Brno, where he worked in the department of complex geophysical methods. The complexity of his approach to problem solving became typical for him throughout his professional life. Thanks to his diligence, interest in new methods of geophysical exploration, knowledge of languages, amazing memory and principled approach, he soon came to the attention of his colleagues – geophysicists, as well as the management of the company. Already in 1994, he was appointed Director of the General Geophysics Division, the youngest in the history of the company!
At the beginning of the millennium, the new owners decided to sell off the Geofyzika Brno assets and liquidate the company. During this period, Vít did much to save the archive of geophysical reports and the often unrepeatable geophysical data itself, and managed, together with several colleagues, to transfer valuable data to Geofond. Even during this difficult period, Vít was interested in new applications of geophysical methods and began consider the possibilities of geophysics for storing carbon dioxide in geological structures as one of the options for reducing the impact of climate change.
In September 2003, Vít joined the Czech Geological Survey. He was now able to deepen his interest in carbon dioxide storage and became one of the first Czech experts on this topic. He was the author of one of the first studies on the possibilities of carbon dioxide storage in the Czech Republic. He has led or collaborated on several national and many European projects, focusing not only on storage itself, but on the entire carbon capture, transport and storage chain, often referred to by the acronym CCS. He has authored and co-authored many papers on the subject. Thanks to his linguistic knowledge, he has also been involved in the translation of technical terms of European legislation in the field of CCS into Czech. He has been a member and representative of many international organisations focused on CCS. For the last two years he has been working on the possibilities of hydrogen storage as a carbon-free fuel of the future.
His diary remained full until the end of March this year, unfortunately he will not be able to participate in the planned activities...