#geophysicist

[macrolit]

Alan Churchill Jones (1927–2026)

Alan Churchill Jones lived a remarkably resilient life defined by scientific dedication, profound personal endurance, and an exceptional artistic eye. Raised in Berkeley, California, he spent his youth alongside his lifelong sweetheart and wife, Olga, with whom he navigated both great joy and deep personal tragedy. Alan’s early military service exposed him to a devastating radiation blast; remarkably, he was one of only two scientists in that group to survive into old age without ever succumbing to cancer. He channelled his brilliant intellect into a distinguished career as a geophysicist, dedicating many years to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California before joining the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, where he conducted vital seismic field studies.

Beyond his scientific achievements, Alan was an enthusiastic amateur photographer. He collected cameras with pure passion and spent decades developing his own film and prints, using his keen artistic eye to document his global travels along with quiet everyday moments. This enduring love for photography beautifully mirrored his deep affection for birds, animals, and the global network of friends he maintained throughout his 99 years. Alan remained a kind, quietly funny, and steady presence on in Menlo Park, California until his peaceful passing on February 28, 2026. He leaves behind a rich, meticulously preserved visual and scientific legacy.

See hundreds of Alan C. Jones' photographs at UC San Diego's digital collection library.

[sushi11]

That's how we talk 🪨

[scotianostra]

Balfour Stewart, the Scottish meteorologist and geophysicist was born on November 1st 1828 in Edinburgh.

Described as “an intellectually precocious child”, Stewart entered St-Andrews University at age thirteen, subsequently transferring to the University of Edinburgh to study natural philosophy. Bending to parental pressures, upon graduating he embarked on business, which he however abandoned and return to the University of Edinburgh in 1853 as an assistant to the noted physicist and glaciologist Professor James David Forbes.

In 1859 he became Director of Kew Observatory, where he remained until 1870, and finished his career as Porfessor of Physics at Owens College in Manchester. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1862, awarded their Rumford Medal in 1868, and was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society in 1867.

In his later years, Stewart became interested in the the compatibility between science and religious, and also launched himself into the scientific study of psychic phenomena. These, in particular, drew very mixed reviews, to the point that his friend and colleague Peter Guthrie Tait (1831-1901), in the obituary he wrote in memory of Stewart, described him as a "one of the most loveable of men, modest and unassuming, but full of the most weird and grotesque ideas"

Balfour Stewart was severely wounded in 1870 in a train crash from which he never fully recovered, he died on 18 December 1887.

There is much more on the man, including his Orcadian connections here https://www.aboutorkney.com/.../balfour-stewart-m-a-ll-d.../

[imperium-romanum]

Deadly 2016 quake in Italy tied to same 'dormant' fault that cracked the Colosseum 1,600 years ago

***

On the night of August 24, 2016, a powerful earthquake of 6.2 magnitude on the Richter scale shook the Apennines mountain range in central Italy, leveling whole villages and killing 299 people - and startling geologists. More quakes followed several weeks later, the strongest measuring at 6.6 on October 30. About 25,000 people lost their homes in about 100 towns from the three quakes.

The quakes originated in the Mount Vettore fault system, which geologists belatedly realized was not quite as dormant as they had thought, Paolo Galli, a geophysicist at Italy’s National Civil Protection Department in Rome and others reported in “Tectonics,” the journal of the American Geophysical Union. The geological community had thought these faults hadn’t budged throughout recorded history.

Imagine their surprise when discovering, using new information and data collected over some 20 years, that the Vettore fault system was responsible for an earthquake in the year 443 C.E. that struck central Italy, cracking the Colosseum and other monuments in Rome.

Continue reading

[earthstory]

[earthstory]

A geophysicist in the 1970s doing a geophysical survey of the border between Finland and Norway discovered that Finland’s highest elevation point was on a slope directly on the border - and the peak of that mountain was actually just a couple meters across the border in Norway. He then proposed the idea of having Norway agree to give Finland this mountain peak as a present, eventually walking across all of Norway to lobby to give them the mountain and settling on 1917, the 100th anniversary of Finland’s founding as a nation. That would give Finland a new highest point and a new mountain. Once the idea was around, they began having to figure out how to actually go about legally making this plan happen - how do you convince a country to give up a mountain?

[agentfascinateur]

[slugggbug]

journal entry:

passed my precal class in the summer,, now i’m taking cal, chem, and polisci. almost took 18 units this semester but i stopped myself since im going out of STATE !! julian and i finally bought our airplane tix to philly to go see MARIETTAAA,, im SUPER excited:3:3:3 i loved them since 4ever,, biggest marietta fan on dis website. im literally facing my biggest fear (getting on a plane) just to go see them. im planning on giving them an art project of them,, it’ll be a lil shit since its last minute buttt GAHh<3

anyways,, my profs this semester r so yucky,, i hope i pass >.< ! i need to take up to cal lll, and perhaps three physics classes gahhhgged !¡! but the more i interact w women in my class, the more motivated i am to stick around. i genuinely love my major and i hope to accomplish what i desire to do.

my plants blossomed beautifully, but this recent heat in la has been torturing my cucumber plant. it gave me its all and now i must let it rest. july has been a v big struggle for me this year. being at peace w reality and accepting the choices ppl make has been hard. however, i am v grateful for the people around me that keep me afloat :3:3:3 every yarn club session is just a reminder of the community around me. my banana chai<3 i hope september is beautiful.

spinning : playboyCARTI, 90sfemale fronted emo bands<3, sun ra, sweet trip, death grips, astrud gilberto always<3

omg i talked to a dj at a bar abt death grips jeje >.<,, tried going niche for niche