Caltech

News articles tagged with "earthquakes"

01/23/2015

Douglas Smith

Fredric ("Fred") Raichlen, professor emeritus of civil and mechanical engineering in Caltech's Division of Engineering and Applied Science, passed away on December 13, 2014. He was an expert in coastal engineering whose pioneering studies of tsunami mechanics have led to standards for designing tsunami-resistant structures that have saved lives around the world.

01/12/2015

Remembering Don L. Anderson

Katie Neith

A pioneer in the use of seismic anisotropy—variations in the velocities of seismic waves as they move at different angles through materials—to study the earth's interior, and a researcher whose work helped advance our understanding of the composition, structure, and dynamics of the earth and of earth-like planets, Don L. Anderson passed away on December 2, 2014.

12/17/2014

Kanamori Receives Sacred Treasure from Japanese Government

Lori Dajose

Geophysicist Hiroo Kanamori has been awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure Gold and Silver Star by the government of Japan.

12/16/2014

Fred Raichlen (1932–2014)

Douglas Smith

Fredric ("Fred") Raichlen, professor emeritus of civil and mechanical engineering at Caltech, passed away on December 13, 2014. He was 82 years old. Raichlen was an expert on the mechanics of tsunamis, the waves created by underwater earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and other geologic events.

12/03/2014

Don L. Anderson

Kathy Svitil

Don L. Anderson, the Eleanor and John R. McMillan Professor of Geophysics, Emeritus, passed away on December 2, 2014. He was 81 years old.

10/10/2014

Seismology and Resilient Infrastructure: An Interview with Domniki Asimaki

Jessica Stoller-Conrad

Domniki Asimaki is interested in the behavior of geotechnical systems under the influence of forces such as wind, waves, and seismological activity.

09/08/2014

Textbook Theory Behind Volcanoes May Be Wrong

Marcus Woo

In the typical textbook picture, volcanoes, such as those that are forming the Hawaiian islands, erupt when magma gushes out as narrow jets from deep inside Earth. But that picture is wrong, according to a new study.

09/03/2014

Measuring Earthquake Shaking

Cynthia Eller

This summer, Caltech junior Kevin Li has been working with computational scientists and seismologists to refine the Community Seismic Network (CSN) by developing a machine-learning system that can accurately estimate the magnitude of an earthquake within seconds of its detection.

Caltech junior Kevin Li and his mentor Julian Bunn

01/17/2014

Lessons from the 1994 Northridge Quake

Cynthia Eller

Since the magnitude 6.7 Northridge earthquake 20 years ago, researchers at Caltech have learned much more about where earthquakes are likely to happen, and how danger to human life and damage to property might be mitigated when they do occur.

02/11/2013

Watson Lecture: "Under the Hood of the Earthquake Machine"

Douglas Smith

What makes an earthquake go off? Why are earthquakes so difficult to forecast? Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Geophysics Nadia Lapusta gives us a close-up look at the moving parts, as it were, at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 13, 2013, in Caltech's Beckman Auditorium. Admission is free.