Michael Schoenberg (1939–2008) was an American theoretical

geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct investigations acros ...

noted for his fundamental contributions to the understanding of

anisotropy Anisotropy () is the structural property of non-uniformity in different directions, as opposed to isotropy. An anisotropic object or pattern has properties that differ according to direction of measurement. For example, many materials exhibit ve ...

in the real earth and its application to the determination of

texture Texture may refer to: Science and technology * Image texture, the spatial arrangement of color or intensities in an image * Surface texture, the smoothness, roughness, or bumpiness of the surface of an object * Texture (roads), road surface c ...

fracture Fracture is the appearance of a crack or complete separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress (mechanics), stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacemen ...

porosity Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void (i.e. "empty") spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0 and 1, or as a percentage between 0% and 100%. Strictly speaking, some tests measure ...

, and

flow Flow may refer to: Science and technology * Fluid flow, the motion of a gas or liquid * Flow (geomorphology), a type of mass wasting or slope movement in geomorphology * Flow (mathematics), a group action of the real numbers on a set * Flow (psyc ...

properties of

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

s.Christie, P.A.F., 2008, ''First Break'', 26, 15
/ref>

Career

Schoenberg received a Ph.D. in applied mechanics from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 1965, and later taught and performed research in theoretical

geophysics Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and Physical property, properties of Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. Geophysicists conduct i ...

at the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a Public university, public research university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York ...

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Tel-Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

, and

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI, acronym pronounced ) is a private, nonprofit research and higher education facility dedicated to the study of marine science and engineering. Established in 1930 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, it i ...

.The Ridgefield Press, Saturday, September 18, 2008 He joined

Schlumberger Schlumberger (), doing business as SLB, is a global multinational oilfield services company. Founded in France in 1926, the company is now incorporated as Schlumberger NV in Willemstad, Curaçao, with principal executive offices in Houston ...

Doll Research in

Ridgefield, Connecticut Ridgefield is an affluent New England town, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains and on the New York state border, Ridgefield had a population o ...

, in 1978, where he worked on applications of

elastic waves Linear elasticity is a mathematical model of how solid objects deform and become internally stressed by prescribed loading conditions. It is a simplification of the more general nonlinear theory of elasticity and a branch of continuum mechani ...

borehole A borehole is a narrow shaft bored in the ground, either vertically or horizontally. A borehole may be constructed for many different purposes, including the extraction of water ( drilled water well and tube well), other liquids (such as petr ...

acoustic

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucksvertical seismic profiling, and surface

seismic 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 ...

. In 1990, he transferred to the

research department of

Cambridge Research in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

where he worked on the application of surface

to characterization of the subsurface. His 1980 paper on "Elastic wave behavior across linear slip interfaces" in the

Journal of the Acoustical Society of America The ''Journal of the Acoustical Society of America'' (JASA) is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering all aspects of acoustics. It is published by the Acoustical Society of America. The editor-in-chief is James F. Lynch (Woods Hole O ...

has found wide application in

, the

characterization of

fractures Fracture is the appearance of a crack or complete separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress (mechanics), stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacemen ...

and fractured

reservoirs A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of water, interrup ...

materials science Materials science is an interdisciplinary field of researching and discovering materials. Materials engineering is an engineering field of finding uses for materials in other fields and industries. The intellectual origins of materials sci ...

and

ultrasonic Ultrasound is sound with frequencies greater than 20 kilohertz. This frequency is the approximate upper audible limit of human hearing in healthy young adults. The physical principles of acoustic waves apply to any frequency range, includi ...

non-destructive testing Nondestructive testing (NDT) is any of a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and technology industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. The terms nondestructive examination (NDE), n ...

. He received the 1997 Conrad Schlumberger Award of the EAGE (European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers) "In recognition of his important contribution to seismic anisotropy, including the investigation of transversely isotropic media. His work leads to a precise determination of faults and fractures, and to a better discrimination of

lithology The lithology of a rock unit is a description of its physical characteristics visible at outcrop, in hand or core samples, or with low magnification microscopy. Physical characteristics include colour, texture, grain size, and composition. Lit ...

." The Conrad Schlumberger Award is presented to a member of the Association who has made an outstanding contribution over a period of time to the scientific and technical advancement of the

geosciences Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

, particularly

. He was the keynote speaker at the 1998 SEGJ International Meeting in Tokyo. He retired from

in 1999, but remained active in research through an international network of collaborators. In 2000–2003 he visited

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government agency that is responsible for scientific research and its commercial and industrial applications. CSIRO works with leading organisations arou ...

Division of Petroleum Resources and

Curtin University of Technology Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, Prime Minister ...

Perth, Western Australia Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

as an advisor to Abnormal Geopressure Prediction Research Program of the Australian Petroleum Cooperative Research Centre (APCRC). During this time he presented a lecture series on "Wave propagation in stratified geomaterials with fractures and anisotropy."Lecture series in Perth
/ref> Michael Schoenberg died August 29, 2008, after a short illness.

Selected publications

* Schoenberg, M.; 1980, Elastic wave behavior across linear slip interfaces, ''J. Acoust. Soc. Am.'', 68, 1516-1521. * Schoenberg, M., 1983, Reflection of elastic waves from periodically stratified media with interfacial slip: ''Geophysical Prospecting'', 31, 265–292. * Schoenberg, M.; and Douma, J.; 1988, Elastic wave propagation in media with parallel fractures and aligned cracks, ''Geophysical Prospecting'', 36, 571-590. * Schoenberg, M.; and Muir, F.; 1989, A calculus for finely layered anisotropic media, ''Geophysics'', 54, 581–589. * Hood and Schoenberg, 1989; Estimation of vertical fracturing from measured elastic moduli: ''Journal of Geophysical Research'', 94, 15,611–15,618. * Nichols, D.; Muir, F.; and Schoenberg, M.; 1989, Elastic Properties of rocks with multiple sets of fractures: ''63rd Ann. Internat. Mtg., Soc. Expl. Geophys.'', Expanded Abstracts, 471–474. * Schoenberg, M.; and J. Protazio; 1992, "Zoeppritz" rationalized and generalized to anisotropy: ''Journal of Seismic Exploration'', 1, 125–144. * Folstad, P. G. and M. Schoenberg, 1992, Low-frequency propagation through fine layering: ''SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts'', 11, 1279–1281. * Hsu, C.-J., and Schoenberg, M., 1993, Elastic waves through a simulated fractured medium: ''Geophysics'', 58, 964–977. * Schoenberg, M.; and Sayers, C.M.; 1995, Seismic anisotropy of fractured rock, ''Geophysics'', 60, 204-211. * Coates, R.T.; and Schoenberg, M.; 1995, "Finite-difference modeling of faults and fractures", ''Geophysics'', 60, 1514-1526. * Schoenberg, M.; Muir, F.; and Sayers, C.; 1996, "Introducing ANNIE: A simple three-parameter anisotropic velocity model for shales", ''J. Seis. Expl.'' vol. 5, 35–49. * Schoenberg, M.; and Helbig, K.; 1997, Orthorhombic media: Modeling elastic wave behavior in a vertically fractured earth, ''Geophysics'', 62, 1954-1974. * Haugen, G. U.; and M. A. Schoenberg; 2000, The echo of a fault or fracture: ''Geophysics'', 65, 176–189. * Liu, E., Vlastos, S., Li, X.-Y., Main, I.G. and Schoenberg, M., 2004, Modelling seismic wave propagation during fluid injection in a fractured network: Effects of changes in pore pressure on seismic waves, ''The Leading Edge'', 23, No. 8, 778-783. * Vlastos, S., Liu, E., Main, I.G., Schoenberg, M., Maillot, B. and X.Y. Li, 2006, Dual simulation of fluid flow and seismic wave propagation in a fractured network: Effects of changes in pore pressure on seismic signature, ''

Geophysical Journal International ''Geophysical Journal International'' (GJI) is a monthly Peer review, peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of geophysics. It is published by Oxford University Press on behalf of two learned societies: the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) ...

'', 166, 825-838. * Daley, T. M., M. A. Schoenberg, J. Rutqvist, and K. T. Nihei, 2006, Fractured reservoirs: An analysis of coupled elastodynamic and permeability changes from pore pressure variation: ''Geophysics'', 71, O33–O41. * Nakagawa, S. and Schoenberg, M., 2007, Poroelastic modeling of seismic boundary conditions across a fracture: ''J. Acoust. Soc. Am.'', 122, 831-847.

References

External links

Michael Schoenberg (1939-2008)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoenberg, Michael 1939 births 2008 deaths American people of German descent American geophysicists Theorists