James B. Macelwane

James Bernard Macelwane (* September 28, 1883 in Port Clinton, Ohio; † February 15, 1956 ) was an American seismologist.

Macelwane was the son of an Irish -born farmer and fisherman. He studied at St. John 's College in Toledo, joined the Jesuits in 1903 and put 1905 his vow. He first visited the mission in Buffalo the German Jesuit, where he also learned German, and after its dissolution in 1908 in the Mission in Missouri. He also attended St. Louis University with a Master of Science degree in 1912 During his studies he had turned to geology -. , The Jesuits had begun around 1911 to establish a seismological network and Macelwane constructed with his Jesuit colleagues Joseph Joliat for seismographs. In 1918 he was ordained a priest. He continued his theology studies continued and taught physics while also in St. Louis. In 1923 he received his doctorate at the University of California at Elmer E. Hall in seismology (the first doctorate in the United States in this area ). He subsequently assistant professor of geology. In 1925 he returned to St. Louis, where he became professor of geophysics. He was for many years director of the Jesuit Seismological Association. He was from 1927 to 1933 Dean of the Graduate School and founded in 1944 by the Institute of Geophysical Technology at the University.

He is regarded in the U.S. as a pioneer of seismology and continued this even early in the oil exploration a. Another field of research was the microseismic, the context of weak seismic signals with events in the atmosphere, which also led to collaboration with the U.S. Navy.

In his honor, the James B. Macelwane Medal is named. In 1949 he was awarded the William Bowie Medal. 1928/29, he was president of the Seismological Society of America in 1953 and until his death he was president of the American Geophysical Union. In 1944 he became a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He was four honorary doctorates.

Writings

• With others: Internal constitution of the earth, McGraw Hill 1939 ( therein by him Chapter 10: Evidence of the interior of the earth derived from seismic sources)
• Introduction to theoretical seismology I: Geodynamics, Wiley 1936
• When the earthquakes, Milwaukee 1947