In memoriam Prof. Luigia Binda, 1936 - 2016

It is with great regret, respect and affection that we announce the passing away, after a long period of illness, of our colleague Luigia Binda on the night of Saturday 3 December.

Prof. Luigia Binda was Full Professor at the Faculty of Architecture Politecnico di Milano for many years. Her interests were in preservation and structural restoration of ancient buildings, non destructive evaluation of  structures, material decay due to aggressive environment, mechanical behaviour of brick and stone-masonry, long term behaviour of heavy masonry structures, study of repair techniques....  As Luigia's colleague Marco di Prisco explained in his message of Sunday 4 December announcing her passing away “all members of the previous Department of Structural Engineering at Politecnico di Milano and all people who had been able to work with Luigia, were thankful to her for the enthusiasm and the passion she was able to transfer to many young colleagues”. Luigia led with clear vision, important research related to one of the most fascinating subjects in the world of structures. She recognized before many others the key topic of the built and cultural heritage. With her passion and scientific efforts, she earned the esteem of the entire international community and constituted for many years a recognized scientific reference in the field of conservation of monumental buildings.

Also in RILEM, Luigia had a very big impact. She was active as a member and chair lady of many TCs (216-SAM Strategies for the assessment of historic masonry structures with NDT, 177-MDT Masonry durability and on-site testing, 127-MS Masonry materials and structures) and was nominated as RILEM Fellow in 1996 and Honorary RILEM member in 2009. Through her enthusiastic activities in RILEM, she put the topic of research on masonry on the international map.

We have lost a very renowned and prominent expert in our field, a great lady who played a prominent international role. 

This is again a sad day for our RILEM community.

Our sincere condolences on behalf of all RILEM members.