Achievements in Geophysics Honored

The American Geophysical Union recognized the contribution of several members of the geophysics community at its annual fall meeting held last month in San Francisco.

The 2001 William Bowie Medal, AGU’s highest award, was presented to Dan McKenzie, Royal Society Professor of Earth Sciences at Cambridge University. The society honored McKenzie for his “fundamental contributions to understanding plate tectonics and willingness to share his expertise with his colleagues to further this research.”

Richard G. Fairbanks was recognized with the 2001 Maurice Ewing Medal for his “distinguished contributions in the fields of paleoceanography, paleoclimatology, and marine geochemistry,” according to the medal citation. He is a professor of Earth and environmental science at Columbia University and a senior scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

The 2001 Harry H. Hess Medal went to Albrecht Hofmann, director of the geochemistry division at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in Mainz, Germany. Hofmann was praised by AGU for his “outstanding contributions to the geochemistry and dynamics of the Earth’s mantle.” John H. Woodhouse received the Inge Lehmann Medal for 2001. He was chosen for his “outstanding contributions to theoretical seismology and their impact on our understanding of three-dimensional structure of the mantle and inner core anisotropy,” according to the society. Woodhouse is a professor of geophysics and the head of the department of Earth sciences at the University of Oxford.

The 2001 Roger Revelle Medal was presented to James Hansen, who was cited for his “outstanding contributions to understanding and communicating the nature of terrestrial atmospheres, the Earth’s climate system, and potential anthropogenic impacts.” Hansen is head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City.

Byron Tapley was honored with the Charles A. Whitten Medal for 2001 for his “original and innovative applications of statistical orbit determination theory and leadership in understanding the Earth’s geodesy.” Tapley is the Clare Cockrell Williams Chair in Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin and also director of the university’s Center for Space Research.

The Edward A. Flinn III Award for 2001 went to Vinod K. Gaur, Distinguished Professor at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bangalore. The award citation credits Gaur for his “contributions facilitating research and development through the introduction of international collaboration in various aspects of Earth sciences in India.”

Three individuals garnered James B. Macelwane Medals for 2001. AGU gives this award to scientists younger than age 36 in recognition of their significant contributions to the geophysical sciences. The recipients were Vassilis Angelopoulos, an associate research physicist at the space sciences laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley; Daniel P. Schrag, a professor of Earth and planetary sciences at Harvard University; and Azadeh Tabazadeh, a research scientist in the Earth sciences division at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, California.