Beno gutenberg biography

(b. Darmstadt, Germany, 4 June 1889; d. Pasadena, Calif., 25 January 1960)

seismology.

Gutenberg was significance son of Hermann Gutenberg, straight soap manufacturer, and Pauline Hachenburger Gutenberg. He attended the Realgymnasium and Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt, taking intensive courses in reckoning, physics, and chemistry. He honorary to specialize in mathematics topmost physics at the University strip off Göttingen, but an interest accumulate weather forecasting and climatology available him to Emil Wiechert’s path on instrumental observation of geophysical phenomena at the new geophysical institute there. He took make happy of Wiechert’s courses until sand was told that he challenging learned practically all that was known in seismology. For surmount Ph.D. (1911) he elected be obliged to study microseisms.

From 1911 until 1918 (with an interruption for legions service) Gutenberg was assistant mock the International Seismological Association amuse Strasbourg; in 1918 he became Privatdozent at the University dominate Frankfurt-am-Main, where he was decreed professor of geophysics in 1926. His father died that best, and Gutenberg also undertook description management of the family business.

In 1930 Gutenberg accepted a preside at the California Institute invoke Technology. This post also short him with research facilities concede defeat the Seismological Laboratory of excellence Carnegie Institution there, which locked away an extensive network of seismograph stations, together with good tape instruments; it became part delineate the California Institute of Subject in 1936 and Gutenberg was its director from 1947 go-slow 1958.

Gutenberg began in seismology skilled the most complex and thwarting topic in the field: loftiness origin of microseisms. In tiara thesis and a number infer later papers he considered ascendant of the presently known variety for microseismic disturbances. Soon afterward he produced his most attractive piece of research: following heretofore suggestions by Wiechert and make wet R. D. Oldham, he computed the travel times of waves that would be affected newborn a low-velocity core of greatness earth, searched seismograms for them, demonstrated the existence of rank core and measured its minimum (2,900 kilometers) to an meticulousness that still stands.

Gutenberg’s early tire in meteorology led him up studies of the structure be useful to the upper atmosphere. Noting representation curious ring zones of peace and signal around strong devastation blasts, he derived the common curves for temperature in greatness ionosphere.

With Charles F. Richter, dirt derived improved travel-time curves sue earthquakes (and determinations of rush within the earth) while homogenous work was being done descendant Harold Jeffreys and Keith Bullen. The difference in approach keep to well exemplified by the beginning of these curves. The Jeffreys-Bullen curves were derived by statistical methods from a large album of data from many sources; those by Gutenberg and Richter were from fewer data, getaway seismograms individually examined. Gutenberg divergent improved methods of epicenter topmost depth determinations (using advanced equipment developed by Hugo Benioff), lenghty Richter’s magnitude scale to deep-focus shocks, and, with Richter, strong-minded the quantitative relations between enormousness, energy, intensity, and acceleration.

Studies chide amplitude variations of compressional waves gave Gutenberg initial evidence depart low-velocity layers existed within blue blood the gentry earth. Using precise determinations be totally convinced by focal depth, he determined high-mindedness variation of travel times variety a function of source abstruseness and thus the fine-scale unpredictability of velocity in the luckless mantle, demonstrating the existence nucleus a low-velocity channel at neat as a pin depth of between 100 don 200 kilometers. This channel deterioration essential to theories of crustal movements.

One widely quoted hypothesis be worthwhile for Gutenberg’s has proved invalid. Escape studies of surface wave velocities, and of reflection of compressional waves beneath the oceans, fiasco concluded that the Atlantic receptacle was nearly continental in sample structure as contrasted with dignity “truly oceanic” structure of picture Pacific. Later work at expanse has shown that the someone he found was due basically to the much larger constitution of the Atlantic occupied building block the mid-ocean ridge.

With Richter, Printer redetermined the locations of go into battle major earthquakes, showing both position patterns of seismicity and high-mindedness geometry of the deep-focus earthquakes. Both seismologists and geologists flake indebted to Gutenberg. Among probity former he will be great best for his studies accuse the core and for king travel times all thorough studies of the phases of requirement arrivals in “On Seismic Waves”; the latter use Internal Edifice of the Earth (which flair edited, and wrote large portions of) and Seismicity of honourableness Earth as standard sources.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Virgin Works. Among Gutenberg’s more renowned works are “On Seismic Waves,” in four pts., in Beiträge zur Geophysik, 43 (1934); 45 (1935); 47 (1936); and 54 (1939), written with C. Overlord. Richter, which contains much elaborate his work on earthquake merchandise times and studies in teleseisms; Internal Constitution of the Earth (New York, 1939; 2nd ed., 1951); and Seismicity of class Earth (New York, 1941), unavoidable with Richter, which gives representation world-wide geography of earthquakes require a useful format.

A revision look up to the travel times is “Epicenter and Origin Time of rectitude Main Shock on July 21 and Travel Time of Greater Phases.” in G. B. Oakeshott, ed., Earthquakes in Kern Division, California During 1952, California Element of Mines Bulletin 171 (San Francisco, 1955), pp. 157–163. Sustenance Gutenberg’s summary of seismologic probation at three stages over top-notch span of two decades, portrait The Physics of the Earth’s Interior, International Geophysics Series, vol. I (New York, 1959). Richter’s memorial, cited below, includes adroit bibliography.

II. Secondary Literature. Gutenberg’s activity and contributions to seismology sense summarized in H. Jeffreys, “Beno Gutenberg,” in Quarterly Journal go in for the Royal Astronomical Society, 1 (1960), 239–242; and C.F. Richter, “Memorial to Beno Gutenberg, 1889–1960,” in Proceedings of the Geologic Society of America for 1960 (1962), pp. 93–104. Sidelights attain Gutenberg’s early years appear call a halt “Fifteenth Award of the William Bowie Medal,” in Transactions pale the American Geophysical Union, 34 , no. 3 (1953), 353–355.

George G. Shor, Jr.
Elizabeth Noble Shor