Donald Vincent Helmberger () was an American

seismologist Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

; described in his '' Seismological Research Letters'' obituary as "one of the most impactful seismologists to have lived". A memorial issue in ''Earthquake Science'' was published in his honor February 2022. He served as head of the

Caltech Seismological Laboratory The Caltech Seismological Laboratory is an arm of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences of the California Institute of Technology. Known as "the Seismo Lab", it has been a world center for seismology research since the 1920s, and was f ...

from 1998 to 2003, and was the Smits Family Professor of Geophysics,

Emeritus ''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some c ...

upon his death. He was named to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

in 2004. Helmberger was the first winner of the

Inge Lehmann Medal The Inge Lehmann Medal is given out by the American Geophysical Union to recognize "outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure, composition, and dynamics of the Earth's mantle and core". The award was created in 1995 and named a ...

in 1997.

Career

After earning his Ph.D. in 1967, he worked as a

research associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Bachelor's degree such as a master's degree or a PhD. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical Scho ...

for

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

, and then as a faculty member at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He began working as an assistant professor at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

in 1970. He became an emeritus in 2017. Ultra-low velocity zones were discovered by Helmberger in 1995. Following his death, Mike Gurnis said that Helmberger had "discovered more about the deep interior of the Earth in the last half of the 20th century than any other researcher in the world."
Secondary source: *

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helmberger, Donald V. 1938 births 2020 deaths California Institute of Technology faculty People from Perham, Minnesota University of California, Los Angeles alumni American seismologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences University of Minnesota alumni