Michael B. (Mike) Abbott studied at London, Delft, Southampton and Amsterdam, receiving his B.Sc.in 1953, Dip. H.E.(Delft) in 1959 and Ph.D. in 1962. He worked at Southampton with one of the earliest commercially available digital computers, constructing the first code for cylindrical shell roofs. After four years in Denmark (with what later became the Danish Hydraulic Institute, or DHI) he joined IHE in 1966 with the position now called 'Professor A' and was later promoted to Senior Professor or 'Professor B'. He became Emeritus Professor in 1996.

From his appointment in 1966, he developed the subject that he later (in 1969) called Computational Hydraulics, forming this into a branch of study at IHE during this same period. He developed the general principles of 'third generation' modelling using generic 'modelling systems' and in 1970 he set up the first team to prosecute this approach to modelling at DHI, alongside his work at IHE. The DHI team soon became one of the major players on the international market for modelling services. From 1977 he led the design and construction (distributed over three countries) of the European Hydrologic System / Systeme Hydrologique Europeen (SHE). During the 1970s he also developed codes for other areas of application, ranging from the dynamic structural analysis of subsea oil and gas pipelines (which code is still in use) to dynamic population models for generalised-biological and specifically human populations.

In the course of the 1980s, he elaborated the basic concepts of fourth generation systems, including the new kinds of marketing arrangements that these would necessitate. As of 1997 . DHI's modelling products alone (MOUSE, MIKE 11, MIKE 21, MIKE SHE etc) were being used by more than two thousand organisations, supported by agents in more than 30 countries.

Over the period from 1980 to 1993, Mike Abbott designed and developed a succession of artificial-intelligent devices for applications to the control and safety of nuclear power plant, under contracts with The Commission for the European Community. This led to applications of sub-symbolic devices, such as artificial neural networks. This work then fused with his other ongoing work in hydraulics, hydrology and environmental engineering to provide a first sketch of a practical Hydroinformatics. This project has since been advanced, together with his many students and co-workers, into one of the main themes of current hydraulics and water-resources applications and research. It has also led to a rapidly growing stream of products and services from the major technological sevice institutes and these have in turn led to the supply of further 'add-on' knowledge-industrial products from other suppliers.

His current main areas of work are the development of a new generation of agent-based computational engines (with Yonas Dibike) and the researching of Internet-distributed environmental-impact-assessment and decision-support systems (with Andrea Jonoski).

Curriculum vitae