George W. Housner
George W. Housner (December 9, 1910 (Saginaw, Michigan) – November 10, 2008 (Pasadena, California)) was an eminent authority on earthquake engineering and National Medal of Science laureate. Housner received his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan where he was influenced by Stephen Timoshenko.[citation needed] He earned his Masters' (1934) and Doctoral (1941) degrees from the California Institute of Technology where he had been a Professor of Earthquake Engineering from 1945 to 1981, and Professor Emeritus thereafter.
Annually, in recognition of those who made extraordinary contributions to the earthquake safety research, practices and policies, EERI awards The George W. Housner Medal of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.[1] On his death, Prof. Housner left a substantial gift to EERI "to advance the objectives of EERI". This gift has been used to train future earthquake engineering policy advocates and thought leaders through the EERI Housner Fellows Program, which has been active since 2011.[2]
Housner died of natural causes November 10, 2008 in Pasadena, California at the age of 97.[3]
Partial list of achievements[edit]
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- Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
- Masters and Doctorate degree from Caltech
- Written numerous journal articles on earthquake engineering
- Chairman of engineering committee of Academy of Sciences
- Formed Earthquake Engineering Research Institute
- UNESCO representative to International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering in Tokyo
- AEC advisory panel on safety against ground shock
- AID consultant at University of Roorkee, India
- Chairman of Geologic Hazards Advisory Committee for California State Resources Agency
- Chairman of Panel on Seismic Design and Testing of Nuclear Facilities for International Atomic Energy Agency
- On Los Angeles County Earthquake Commission
- Member of Earthquake Engineering and Hazards Reduction Delegation to People's Republic of China
- President of Seismological Society
- Consultant to Japanese Atomic Energy Commission and Italian Nuclear Energy Commission and numerous nuclear energy projects in the U.S.
- Elected to National Academy of Sciences 1972
- Named Braun Professor of Engineering at Caltech 1974
- Chairman of NRC's Earthquake Society and International Association
- Delivered second Mallet-Milne memorial lecture for Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics, in London in 1989[4]
References[edit]
- ^ "Honors and Awards: The George W. Housner Medal". Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. 18 August 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-01-09. Retrieved 2008-12-12.
- ^ "Housner Fellows Program". www.eeri.org. Retrieved 2016-02-18.
- ^ Johnson Jr., John (15 November 2008). "George W. Housner dies at 97; Caltech professor emeritus was called the father of earthquake engineering". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2014-08-23.
- ^ Campbell, Andy (May 2016). "The fifteenth Mallet–Milne lecture". Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering. 14 (5): 1333–1336. doi:10.1007/s10518-016-9869-8.
