Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz

Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz

Born October 22, 1881(1881-10-22)
Heidenheim an der Brenz, Germany
Died July 20, 1908(1908-07-20) (aged 26)
Residence Germany
Nationality Germany
Fields Geophysics
Institutions University of Göttingen
Alma mater University of Freiburg
Known for Zoeppritz equations

Karl Bernhard Zoeppritz (October 22, 1881 – Jul 20, 1908) was a German geophysicist who made important contributions to seismology, in particular the formulation of the Zoeppritz equations. These equations relate the amplitudes of P-waves and S-waves at each side of an interface between two arbitrary elastic media as a function of incidence angle. They use the difference in times taken for the waves to return (known as travel-times) to provide an analysis of the media through which the waves have travelled.

Zoeppritz studied natural science and geology in Munich and Freiburg in Germany, where he completed his doctoral dissertation on the geology of part of the Swiss Alps in 1905[1]. In the summer of 1906 he completed the 'Oberlehrerexamen', a teaching certificate, in Karlsruhe.

After Karlsruhe, Zoeppritz went on to work with Emil Wiechert at the University of Göttingen. Working with data from earthquakes, including the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the most important early contribution was the construction of travel-time curves—and their associated velocity-depth functions—for P-, S-, multiply reflected P- and S-waves, and surface waves[2] The related ill-posed inverse problem of inferring a discrete velocity distribution, representing the layers of the crust and mantle, was solved by fellow Göttingen mathematician Gustav Herglotz[3]. Zoeppritz went on to work with others in the lab and elsewhere, including the British astronomer Herbert Hall Turner, and Beno Gutenberg[4], who later emigrated to the United States.

In the summer of 1908, Zoeppritz died after an alcohol induced illness, caused by several months of drinking as he was trying to re-create mode conversion[5]. His most important work, describing the reflection and transmission of seismic waves in elastic media, was published several years after his death[6].

The Zoeppritz Prize of the German Geophysical Society (DGG), instituted in 2002 and awarded to outstanding young geophysicists, is named after Karl Zoeppritz[7].

Each year on the 20th of July, Geophysicists around the world gather in pubs to celebrate the great mans life and legacy[8],

See also

References

  1. ^ Zoeppritz, Karl (1906). Geologische Untersuchungen im Oberengadin zwischen Albulapass und Livigno (Geological investigations in the Oberengadin between Albulapass and Livigno). Inaugural-Dissertation (PhD thesis), Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, 68 pp.
  2. ^ Zoeppritz, Karl (1907). Über Erdbebenwellen II. Laufzeitkurven. Nachrichten von der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Mathematisch-physikalische Klasse, 529-549.
  3. ^ Howell, Jr, BF (1990). An introduction to seismological research: history and development. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 195 pp. ISBN 0-521-38571-7.
  4. ^ Zoeppritz, Karl, Ludwig Geiger & Beno Gutenberg (1912). Über Erdbebenwellen V. Konstitution des Erdinnern, erschlossen aus dem Bodenverrückungsverhältnis der einmal reflektierten zu den direkten longitudinalen Erdbebenwellen, und einige andere Beobachtungen über Erdbebenwellen. Nachrichten Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Mathematisch-physikalische Klasse, 121-206.
  5. ^ Kertz, W (2002). Biographisches Lexikon zur Geschichte der Geophysik. Edited by K-H Glaflmeier & R Kertz. Braunschweigische Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft, Braunschweig 2002, 384 pp.
  6. ^ Zoeppritz, Karl (1919). Erdbebenwellen VII. VIIb. Über Reflexion und Durchgang seismischer Wellen durch Unstetigkeitsflächen. Nachrichten von der Königlichen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften zu Göttingen, Mathematisch-physikalische Klasse, 66-84.
  7. ^ The Karl Zoeppritz Prize, including a short biography in German
  8. ^ The Brisbane Coal Geophysicists Drinking Society (web page under construction)

External links