The 2007 Laureates / Basic Sciences Category / Earth and Planetary Sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics

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Hiroo Kanamori

Japan / October 17, 1936
Geophysicist; Professor Emeritus, California Institute of Technology

"Elucidation of Physical Processes of Earthquakes and Its Application to Hazard Mitigation"
Dr. Hiroo Kanamori has made an epoch-making progress on the study of great earthquakes through the establishment of analytical method to understand quantitatively all over the rupture process of a great earthquake making full use of seismogram. This study has ushered in a new era in seismology and had a significant impact on the development of geophysics. He has made practical proposals on how to mitigate earthquake hazards based on the knowledge gained through basic studies and contributed to building up and conducting earthquake hazard mitigation systems.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHY

1936
Born in Tokyo, Japan
1962-1966
Research Associate, The University of Tokyo
1964
Ph.D. (Geophysics), The University of Tokyo
1965-1966
Research Fellow, California Institute of Technology
1966-1970
Associate Professor, The University of Tokyo
1969-1970
Visiting Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1970-1972
Professor, The University of Tokyo
1972-1989
Professor, California Institute of Technology
1989-2005
John E. and Hazel S. Smits Professor of Geophysics, California Institute of Technology
1990-1998
Director, Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
2005-present
John E. and Hazel S. Smits Professor of Geophysics Emeritus, California Institute of Technology
2005-2006
Invited eminent scientist of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Award for Eminent Scientists, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University
2006-present
Visiting Professor, Nagoya Universityy

SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS

1992
Harry Fielding Reid Medal, The Seismological Society of America
1993
Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship, National Academy of Sciences
1993
California Scientist of the Year Award, California Science Center
1994
Asahi Prize, The Asahi Shimbun
1996
Walter H. Bucher Medal, American Geophysical Union
2004
Japan Academy Prize, The Japan Academy
2006
Person of Cultural Merit Award, Japan
Member:
American Academy of Arts and Sciences

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1970
Synthesis of long-period surface waves and its application to earthquake source studies-Kurile Islands earthquake of October 13, 1963, Journal of Geophysical Research 75: 5011-5027.
1975
Theoretical basis of some empirical relations in seismology, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 65: 1073-1095 (with Anderson, D. L.).
1977
The energy release in great earthquakes, Journal of Geophysical Research 82: 2981-2876.
1983
The rupture process and asperity distribution of three great earthquakes from long-period diffracted P-waves, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 31: 202-230 (Ruff, L. and Kanamori, H.).
1997
Real-time seismology and earthquake hazard mitigation, Nature 390: 461-464 (with Hauksson, E. and Heaton, T.).