Jon F. Claerbout (born February 14, 1938) is an American

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 ...

and

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 ...

. He is the

Cecil Green Cecil Green (né Judge Cecil Holt; September 30, 1919 – July 29, 1951) was an American racecar driver from Dallas, Texas. Racing career Green won 34 midget races between 1948 and 1950 in Oklahoma and Missouri, and several more in Texas. He won ...

Professor Emeritus of Geophysics at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. Since the later half of the 20th century, he has been a leading researcher and pioneered the use of computers in processing and filtering seismic exploration data, eventually developing the field of time series analysis and

seismic interferometry Interferometry examines the general interference phenomena between pairs of signals in order to gain useful information about the subsurface. Seismic interferometry (SI) utilizes the crosscorrelation of signal pairs to reconstruct the impulse respo ...

, modelling the propagation of seismic waves.

Career

Claerbout obtained a BS in physics in 1960, a MS in geophysics in 1963 and a PhD in geophysics in 1967, all from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His BS thesis was titled ''A rubidium vapor

magnetometer A magnetometer is a device that measures magnetic field or magnetic dipole moment. Different types of magnetometers measure the direction, strength, or relative change of a magnetic field at a particular location. A compass is one such device, o ...

''. He worked with Stephen M. Simpson Jr. for his MS thesis, titled ''Digital filters and applications to seismic detection and discrimination''. The publication of this work made many geophysicists, including those in the oil and gas industry, well aware of Claerbout's potential. However, Claerbout found the sparse availability and low quality of earthquake seismic data frustrating and decided to study atmospheric gravity waves during his PhD. His advisor was Theodore R. Madden and the title of his thesis was ''Electromagnetic Effects of Atmospheric Gravity Waves''. Claerbout is the founder of the Stanford Exploration Project (SEP), the first geophysical research consortium funded by the oil and gas industry. Claerbout has been a doctoral advisor to many of influential geophysicists who joined SEP such as Oz Yilmaz and

Biondo Biondi Biondo is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Cayetano Biondo (1902–1986), Argentine actor *Flavio Biondo (1392–1463), Italian historian * Francesco Biondo (1735–1805), Italian painter *George Biondo (born 1954), Am ...

. The term and concept of exploding reflectors in reflection seismology is often attributed to Jon Claerbout. However, Claerbout claims that the term was coined b
John Sherwood
a geophysicist from Chevron who introduced him to exploration geophysics. John Sherwood has said that he only used the term to refer to Claerbout's innovative method of seismic migration. He was one of the first scientists to emphasize that computational methods threaten the

reproducibility Reproducibility, also known as replicability and repeatability, is a major principle underpinning the scientific method. For the findings of a study to be reproducible means that results obtained by an experiment or an observational study or in a ...

of research unless open access is provided to both the data and the software underlying a publication. Claerbout's books have been among the most read and cited in geophysical research, especially ''Fundamentals of Geophysical Data Processing'' and ''Imaging the Earth's Interior'', which have been translated into Chinese and Russian among other languages. He has since made all his books available for free download from his website.

Awards and honors

In 1988, Claerbout was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for original and pioneering studies that revolutionized seismic wave analysis and greatly aided the international search for petroleum. He is the youngest ever recipient of the

Maurice Ewing Medal Two international geophysical societies offer awards each year which are named in honor of Maurice Ewing; these are the American Geophysical Union and the Society of Exploration Geophysicists: __TOC__ AGU Ewing Medal The Maurice Ewing Medal is awa ...

of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, having received this award in 1992 for lifetime achievements when he was in his early fifties.Society of Exploration Geophysicists
Asteroid 156990 Claerbout, discovered by

Joseph A. Dellinger This is a list of minor-planet discoverers credited by the Minor Planet Center with the discovery of one or several minor planets (such as near-Earth and main-belt asteroids, Jupiter trojans and distant objects). , the discovery of 612,011 numb ...

at George Observatory in 2003, was named in his honor. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 17 May 2011 ().

References

Living people American geophysicists American seismologists 1938 births Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering {{geoscientist-stub