Kate Hutton, nicknamed the Earthquake Lady, Dr. Kate, or Earthquake Kate, is a former staff

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 ...

at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. Its ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, where she monitored Southern California's earthquake activity for 37 years.

Background

While Hutton was growing up, her family lived in several states and spent six years in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. She was interested in all kinds of

natural science Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

s, and she decided to stay in the fields of

math Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

and science.https://ctago.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Kate-Hutton.pdf Kate Hutton's biography Hutton was an amateur astronomer in her teens. Hutton received a B.S. in

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

in 1971, and an M.S. (1973) and Ph.D. (1976) in astronomy from the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of Mary ...

Scientific career

After graduating with her Ph.D., Hutton says she found astronomy jobs scarce, so switched careers. She sees astronomy and seismology as similar: "Earth is a planet, after all, so it's sort of a matter of looking down rather than looking up." In 1977, she began work at Caltech's seismology lab as a

data analyst Data analysis is a process of inspecting, cleansing, transforming, and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions, and supporting decision-making. Data analysis has multiple facets and approaches, enco ...

. She worked her way up to senior seismologist and was in charge of operating Caltech's earthquake measuring program and also conducted research. Hutton's academic research areas in

seismology 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 ...

included magnitude measurement,

seismotectonics Seismotectonics is the study of the relationship between the earthquakes, active tectonics and individual faults of a region. It seeks to understand which faults are responsible for seismic activity in an area by analysing a combination of region ...

, and the development of the

Southern California Seismic Network The Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN) is a cooperative project of California Institute of Technology, Caltech and the United States Geological Survey. The SCSN has benefited from numerous upgrade projects. TERRAscope, funded by the L. K. W ...

. Hutton worked on a project to improve the consistency of the “earthquake catalog”, which is a list of over 400,000 southern California quakes recorded since 1932. She also worked on the development of earthquake safety programs, such as the statewide Earthquake Early Warning System, which could provide early notice of an earthquake and mitigate casualties and damage. Hutton retired from Caltech on Jan 30, 2015.

Public outreach

Starting in the 1980s and 1990s, Hutton regularly appeared in the media alone and sometimes with her

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...

colleague Dr. Lucy Jones to inform the public about recent earthquakes in Southern California and abroad. Hutton was “very successful and highly valued” at Caltech because of her ability to communicate complex topics clearly and accurately to the public. Hutton was also sought out by international news organizations from Japan, Korea, Sweden, and France for her explanations of earthquakes. According to

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

, "Hutton strikes just the right balance between calm and caution" in explaining earthquake science to viewers.

Personal

Hutton is a licensed

amateur radio Amateur radio, also known as ham radio, is the use of the radio frequency spectrum for purposes of non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, private recreation, radiosport, contesting, and emergency communic ...

(ham radio) operator and has been involved with the Palm Springs

Hamfest A Hamfest is a convention of amateur radio enthusiasts, often combining a trade show, flea market, and various other activities of interest to amateur radio operators (hams). In the United Kingdom the term rally is more commonly used for amateur ...

. She is also the Section Traffic Manager for the Los Angeles Section of the

American Radio Relay League The American Radio Relay League (ARRL) is the largest membership association of amateur radio enthusiasts in the United States. ARRL is a non-profit organization, and was co-founded on April 6, 1914, by Hiram Percy Maxim and Clarence D. Tuska of ...

, which calls itself "the national association for amateur radio." Hutton has been an

out Out may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 * ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander * ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese film ba ...

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

since 1984, and is often listed as a "lesbian icon." She gave a tour of the Caltech seismology lab for the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Scientists group and ended up dating the tour group's leader that year. Hutton was the consulting seismologist for the 1990

monster movie A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally large ones. The film may also fall under ...

'' Tremors'' starring

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...

''.'' She also appeared in the 1981

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed seer, who is best known for his book ''Les Prophéties'' (published in 1555), a collection o ...

documentary-movie ''

The Man Who Saw Tomorrow ''The Man Who Saw Tomorrow'' is a 1981 documentary-style movie about the predictions of French astrologer and physician Michel de Notredame (Nostradamus). ''The Man Who Saw Tomorrow'' is presented (one might say "hosted") and narrated by Ors ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutton, Kate Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American seismologists American women geologists LGBT people from California American LGBT scientists Scientists from California California Institute of Technology faculty Eberly College of Science alumni University of Maryland, College Park alumni 20th-century American geologists 21st-century American geologists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American women scientists Lesbian academics Lesbian scientists American women academics