Donald V. Helmberger

Donald V. Helmberger
Born	Donald Vincent Helmberger January 23, 1938 Perham, Minnesota
Died	August 13, 2020(2020-08-13) (aged 82)
Alma mater	University of Minnesota (BS) University of California, San Diego (MS, PhD)[1]
Scientific career
Institutions	Massachusetts Institute of Technology Princeton University California Institute of Technology

Donald Vincent Helmberger ( (1938-January-{{{day}}}) (2020-February-{{{day}}})January 1938 – February 2020) was an American seismologist; described in his Seismological Research Letters obituary as "one of the most impactful seismologists to have lived".[2] A memorial issue in Earthquake Science[a] was published in his honor February 2022.[3] He served as head of the Caltech Seismological Laboratory from 1998 to 2003,[4][5] and was the Smits Family Professor of Geophysics, Emeritus upon his death.[6] He was named to the National Academy of Sciences in 2004.[7][8]

Helmberger was the first winner of the Inge Lehmann Medal in 1997.[9][10]

Career

After earning his Ph.D. in 1967, he worked as a research associate for Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and then as a faculty member at Princeton University. He began working as an assistant professor at Caltech in 1970.[11] He became an emeritus in 2017.[12]

Ultra-low velocity zones were discovered by Helmberger in 1995.[13]

Following his death, Mike Gurnis said that Helmberger had "discovered more about the deep interior of the Earth in the last half of the 20th century than any other researcher in the world."[14]

Footnotes

1. ISSN 1674-4519, published by Elsevier with KeAi for the Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration

1. "Donald V. Helmberger". Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
2. Lay, Thorne (March 1, 2021). "Donald V. Helmberger (1938–2020)". Seismological Research Letters. 92 (2A): 621–622. doi:10.1785/0220190473. ISSN 0895-0695. S2CID 233854676.
3. "Earthquake Science | Vol 35, Issue 1, Pages 1-70 (February 2022)". ScienceDirect.com by Elsevier. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
4. "Donald V. Helmberger". Caltech Seismological Laboratory.
5. "Former Caltech Seismological Laboratory Manager Donald V. Helmberger, 1938-2020". Pasadena Now. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
6. "Donald V. Helmberger (1938 - 2020)". IASPEI. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
7. "New Members Join NAS". Physics Today. 57 (8): 66. 2004. doi:10.1063/1.2408593. ISSN 0031-9228.
8. Lubick, Naomi (July 2004). "Joining the academy". Profiles. Geotimes. 49 (7).
9. Multiple primary sources:
   • "Inge Lehman Medal". AGU. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
   • Anonymous (1997). "AGU honors outstanding scientists". Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union. 78 (7): 75. doi:10.1029/97EO00052. ISSN 0096-3941.
10. Secondary source:
    • Kumagai, Jean (1997). "AGU Creates Medal to Honor Lehmann". Physics Today. 50 (5): 54. doi:10.1063/1.881825. ISSN 0031-9228.
11. Misra-Bhambri, Nikhil (August 20, 2020). "The Embodiment of 'Carpe Diem'". Pasadena Weekly. p. 9. Retrieved May 27, 2023 – via Issuu.
12. "In Memoriam". AGU. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
13. Perkins, Robert (September 21, 2018). "Subducting slabs of the Earth's crust may generate unusual features spotted near the core". Phys.org. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
14. "Caltech's Seismo Lab Celebrates 100 Years at the Forefront of Earthquake Science". California Institute of Technology. November 9, 2022. Retrieved May 28, 2023.
    Secondary source:
    • "Caltech: Caltech's Seismo Lab Celebrates 100 Years at the Forefront of Earthquake Science". India Education | Latest Education News | Global Educational News | Recent Educational News. November 21, 2022. Retrieved May 28, 2023.