Soil Physics with Python: Transport in the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere System

A textbook describing the physical environment of soil, including the movement of heat, water and gases. Transport problems are described mathematically, and methods for solving the problems, using original computer programs written in Python, are presented.

Marco Bittelli, Professor, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bologna, Italy,Gaylon S. Campbell, Senior Scientist, Decagon Devices Inc.,Fausto Tomei, Researcher, Regional Agency for Environmental Protection

Marco Bittelli received his degree in Agricultural Science from the University of Bologna, Italy, as well as a M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Soil Physics from Washington State University, USA. He spent a year as a postdoctoral scientist in the Physics Department at the University of Heidelberg, Germany. He now teaches courses in soil physics, hydrological modelling, and scientific methods at the undergraduate and graduate level, at the University of Bologna, Italy. He is a referee for the National Science Foundation, USA, and he also serves as a reviewer for international journals. He is the author and the coauthor of 40 journal papers, 3 book chapters, and over 50 papers in conference proceedings.


Gaylon S. Campbell received a B.S. in Physics and M.S. in Soil Physics from Utah State University, USA; and a Ph.D. in Soil Physics from Washington State University, USA. He served as Captain, U.S. Army, doing meteorological research at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. He was Professor of Soils and Biophysics at Washington State University, USA, from 1971 to 1998. He has been Vice President, Engineer, and Senior Scientist at Decagon Devices, Inc., from 1998 to the present. He has written 3 books, over 100 journal articles and book chapters, and has several patents.


Fausto Tomei received a degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of Bologna, Italy. He is a researcher at the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection, Emilia-Romagna Region, Italy. His research focuses on numerical analysis of hydrological processes and software development. He is the author and the coauthor of 10 journal papers, 1 book, 2 book chapters, and over 30 papers in conference proceedings. He has worked on several Italian and European projects, on climate change, soil hydrology and agriculture.