is a Japanese

seismologist Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...

who has made fundamental contributions to understanding the

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

of earthquakes and the

tectonic Tectonics (; ) are the processes that control the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. These include the processes of mountain building, the growth and behavior of the strong, old cores of continents ...

processes that cause them.

Career

Kanamori and American seismologist Thomas C. Hanks developed the

moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pa ...

which replaced the

Richter magnitude scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 p ...

as a measurement of the relative strength of earthquakes. Kanamori invented the method for calculating slip distribution on the fault plane by teleseismic waveform with

Masayuki Kikuchi Masayuki Kikuchi(菊地正幸) (January 19, 1948 – October 18, 2003) was a Japanese seismologist. He was famous for real-time seismology. Education and career Bachelor of Science (1970), Master of Science (1972), and Doctor of Science (197 ...

. In addition, they studied realtime seismology. In 2007 he was awarded the

Kyoto Prize The is Japan's highest private award for lifetime achievement in the arts and sciences. It is given not only to those that are top representatives of their own respective fields, but to "those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, ...

in Basic Sciences. Kanamori developed a new method of earthquake early warning detection by rapid analysis of the P-wave by a robust network. The algorithm is currently being tested with the Southern California Seismic Network "ShakeAlert" Earthquake Early Warning (EEW) system, and is one of three algorithms that is used by the system.

Honours

*1993

Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship The Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "to a scientist making new contributions to the physics of the Earth whose four to six lectures would prove a solid, timely, and useful addition to the know ...

*1994

Asahi Prize The , established in 1929, is an award presented by the Japanese newspaper ''Asahi Shimbun'' and Asahi Shimbun Foundation to honor individuals and groups that have made outstanding accomplishments in the fields of arts and academics and have greatl ...

*1996 Walter H. Bucher Medal *2004 Japan Academy Prize *2006

Person of Cultural Merit is an official Japanese recognition and honor which is awarded annually to select people who have made outstanding cultural contributions. This distinction is intended to play a role as a part of a system of support measures for the promotion of ...

*2007

*2014

William Bowie Medal The William Bowie Medal is awarded annually by the American Geophysical Union for "outstanding contributions to fundamental geophysics and for unselfish cooperation in research". The award is the highest honor given by the AGU and is named in honor ...

Selected publications

* * * * * * * * * *

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kanamori, Hiroo 1936 births Living people People from Tokyo University of Tokyo alumni University of Tokyo faculty California Institute of Technology faculty Japanese emigrants to the United States Japanese seismologists Kyoto laureates in Basic Sciences Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences

Career

Honours

Selected publications

See also

References