Tom Fudge: Here in California, we live in earthquake country. When we think about the impact of an earthquake, we may wonder what it registers on the "Richter scale." But people who study earthquakes actually set aside the Richter scale a long time ago. They now use measuring device that's much more accurate. It's called the Moment Magnitude scale , and it was developed nearly 30 years ago by Thomas Hanks and a young geophysicist named Hiroo Kanamori.
Now Kanamori REALLY grew up in earthquake country. He's a native of Japan, but he's taught for many years at the California Institute of Technology. In addition to helping create the new gold standard for measuring earthquakes, Kanamori has been deeply involved in the art and science of developing systems of early warning for earthquakes. You do this by measuring the early shock waves of the temblor, before the devastating shock arrives.
Dr. Kanamori will speak Thursday, March 13, at 4p.m., at UCSD .
Guest
- Dr. Hiroo Kanamori , a geophysicist, professor emeritus at California Institute of Technology , and Kyoto Prize laureate in "Basic Sciences."
