Prof. Jeroen Tromp named recipient of 2013 Beno Gutenberg Medal from the European Geosciences Union

Nov. 7, 2012

 

The European Geosciences Union (EGU) has awarded Professor Jeroen Tromp the 2013 Beno Gutenberg Medal. The EGU Awards & Medals program recognizes eminent scientists for their outstanding research contributions to Earth, planetary, and space sciences. Awardees are considered to be remarkable role models that foster the next generation of young scientists in geosciences research. Prof. Tromp came to the Department of Geosciences as Blair Professor of Geology and Professor of Applied & Computational Mathematics in July of 2008.

Prof. Tromp is not the first Princeton Geosciences faculty member to win this award. In 2006, the Medal was awarded to Guust Nolet (1991-2008) for his pioneering role in the development of digital broadband seismology and for his outstanding contributions to geophysical inverse theory and seismic tomography, which have revolutionized our understanding of the structure of the Earth’s interior.

The EGU Division on Seismology established this award in recognition of the scientific achievements on behalf of Dr. Beno Gutenberg. Dr. Gutenberg was a German-born scientist who was responsible for identifying the Earth's core and determining the core-mantle boundary of the Earth in 1912. He studied geophysics, physics and mathematics in Darmstadt and later at the University of Göttingen, where he received his Ph.D. in 1911. He eventually became a professor of Geophysics at the California Institute of Technology from 1932 till 1959. While at Caltech, he was instrumental in establishing the Richter magnitude scale along side of Francis Richter. He also became the Director of Caltech’s renowned Seismological Laboratory from 1946-1957. Coincidentally, Prof. Tromp was Director of the “Seismo Lab” from 2003-2008.

Prof. Tromp’s award will be announced in the April issue of Elements; including a short article about him written by the Chair of the Science Innovation Award Committee, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs.