Frederik J. Simons
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Frederik J. Simons is a Flemish Belgian
geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
. He is a professor at Princeton University in the Department of Geosciences. From 2010 to 2013, Simons was the Dusenbury University Preceptor of Geological & Geophysical Sciences. From 2004 to 2006, he was a lecturer in the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London. Between 2002 and 2004 he was a
Harry H. Hess Harry Hammond Hess (May 24, 1906 – August 25, 1969) was an American geologist and a United States Navy officer in World War II who is considered one of the "founding fathers" of the unifying theory of plate tectonics. He is best known for his th ...
Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Geosciences and a Beck Fellow with the Council on Science and Technology, also at Princeton University. Simons has worked on a variety of theoretical problems in solid-earth geophysics, seismology, geodesy, and geomagnetism. He has made numerous contributions to the study of Earth's mantle, continental structure and evolution using
seismic tomography Seismic tomography or seismotomography is a technique for imaging the subsurface of the Earth with seismic waves produced by earthquakes or explosions. P-, S-, and surface waves can be used for tomographic models of different resolutions based on ...
, the analysis of sea level change in the
Last Interglacial The Last Interglacial, also known as the Eemian (primarily used in a European context) among other names (including the Sangamonian, Ipswichian, Mikulino, Kaydaky, Valdivia and Riss-Würm) was the interglacial period which began about 130,000 ye ...
and of ice sheet mass variations though the
Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment The Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) was a joint mission of NASA and the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Twin satellites took detailed measurements of Earth's gravity field anomalies from its launch in March 2002 to the end of its ...
, and to the theory of spatiospectral localization via
prolate spheroidal wave functions The prolate spheroidal wave functions are eigenfunctions of the Laplacian in prolate spheroidal coordinates, adapted to boundary conditions on certain ellipsoids of revolution (an ellipse rotated around its long axis, “cigar shape“). Related are ...
. Simons is involved in the design of marine instrumentation for recording earthquakes, specifically iterations of MERMAID.


Education

Frederik Simons was born in
Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,
, Belgium. He graduated primus perpetuus from
Our Lady College, Antwerp , logo = Illu logo OLVC.jpg , image = Antwerpen Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Gratie1.JPG , image_size = 270px , alt = , caption = College building to right of church , motto = , e ...
Jesuit School in 1992. Simons earned his Bachelor's and Master's of Science from KU Leuven in 1996, and his Ph.D. in Geophysics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2002.


Academic career

Simons has worked on a variety of theoretical problems in solid-earth geophysics, seismology, geodesy, and geomagnetism. Also involved in the design of instrumentation, he founded the international EarthScope-Oceans consortium, devoted to instrumenting the oceans for global geophysics. A well-known example is the MERMAID (Mobile Earthquake Recording in Marine Areas by Independent Divers) instrument, a passively drifting autonomous mid-column hydrophone. The idea of collecting earthquake data for global tomography by robotic drifters is credited to Guust Nolet, a Princeton Professor of geophysics emeritus, who was Simons' postdoctoral advisor. With their colleagues at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego, California, they launched the first MERMAID prototype in 2003. The second-generation MERMAID was built by Teledyne Webb Research with support from the
European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...
. The third-generation MERMAID was developed with Yann Hell

and is commercialized by French engineering company OSEAN SAS. The fourth generation is a dual-use instrument equipped, in addition to the hydrophone package, with a conductivity, temperature, and depth (CTD) sensor capable of carrying out hydrographic profiles down to 4,000 m depth, adding to the Argo fleet.


Awards

* 2022 IUGG, Vladimir Keilis-Borok Medal *2018 IRIS Consortium/ Seismological Society of America, Distinguished Lecturer *2012 National Science Foundation,
CAREER Award The National Science Foundation CAREER awards, presented by the National Science Foundation (NSF), are in support of junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through research and education, and the integration of these endeavors i ...
*2008 Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium, Prix quadriennal Charles Lagrange *1998 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Victor J. DeCorte Graduate Fellowship *1997 KU Leuven, Biennial prize for an M.Sc. Thesis in geology *1996-1997
Belgian American Educational Foundation The Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) is an educational charity. It supports the exchange of university students, scientists and scholars between the United States and Belgium. The foundation fosters the higher education of deserving ...
, Honorary Fellow *1996-1997 Fulbright Program, Grantee *1996-1997
Rotary Foundation The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely b ...
, Ambassadorial Scholar *1992
Our Lady College, Antwerp , logo = Illu logo OLVC.jpg , image = Antwerpen Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van Gratie1.JPG , image_size = 270px , alt = , caption = College building to right of church , motto = , e ...
, Primus perpetuus, Antwerpen, Belgium


External links


The Council on Science and Technology at PrincetonThe Simons Laboratories at PrincetonFrederik J. Simons Department ProfileFrederik Simons IAS Profile

EarthScope-Oceans


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simons, Frederik J. 1974 births Living people Scientists from Antwerp Princeton University faculty KU Leuven alumni Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni