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Charles R. O'Melia, an expert on water treatment, was known among his peers as someone who retained a humble demeanour despite being a leading scholar in his field.
The professor emeritus in the department of geography and environmental engineering in the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, in the US, demonstrated this in 2000 when he won the Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize, a top award in the field of water-related research and technology. He gave away all of the $50,000 (Pounds 31,000) prize money.
He explained at the time: "If I'd won the lottery, I wouldn't give all of that money away. But this was an...