Adam Dziewonski

Adam Marian Dziewoński (* November 15, 1936 in Lviv, now Ukraine) is a Polish geophysicist and seismologist.

Scientific stations

Dziewoński grew up in Poland, where he studies in geophysics graduated from the Warsaw University, from which he graduated in 1960. He then moved to Kraków, where he obtained in 1965 at the Akademia Górniczo - Hutnicza ( Academy of Mining and metallurgy ) the title of Doctor of Technical Sciences. Then Dziewoński went to the United States, first to Dallas and later at Harvard University. He was from 1976 to 1994 Professor of Geology Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, whose chairman he was in his mid -80s in. Since 1994 Dziewoński held the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor in the same department.

Research content

During his scientific career, Adam Dziewoński dealt with the interior structure of the earth and contributed significantly to its research today's understanding of the Earth's interior. One of his early achievements was the development of the Centroid Moment Tensor Catalog, a catalog that compiles the focal mechanisms of larger earthquakes and is one of the world's most used seismological standard tools.

One of the most famous performances Dziewońskis in 1981 was the creation of the PREM - Erdreferenzmodells with Don L. Anderson. The model summarized the changes of seismic velocities, density, pressure, and other parameters as a function of depth together, and up to the present time used.

Paid particular attention Dziewoński also to the study of anisotropy effects in seismology, ie the directional dependence of seismic velocities. Investigations of this kind have recently led to new insights about the nature and development of the inner core of the earth.

Awards (selection)

Adam Dziewoński was honored for his research and for his outstanding contributions to the understanding of the Earth with numerous honorary memberships, awards and accolades, including:

  • 2002 - William Bowie Medal of the American Geophysical Union
  • 2000 - Medal of the Seismological Society of America
  • 1999 - Gold Medal of the Ettore Majorana Centre for Scientific Culture
  • 1999 - Honorary Doctorate dignity of academia Górniczo - Hutnicza, Krakow
  • 1998 - Crafoord Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
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