Frank Press

Seismologist and governnment science adviser, born in New York City, New York, USA. He held faculty positions at Columbia University (1949–55), the California Institute of Technology (1955–65), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1965–77), and was president of the National Academy of Science from 1981. As director of the California Institute of Technology's seismological laboratory, he and his colleagues first identified the ‘free oscillations’ of the Earth - the persistent global vibrations arising from earthquakes and other geological disturbances. During his service on the International Geophysical Year glaciology and seismology panel (1955–9), he helped determine the thickness of the Earth's North American crust, while his polar research confirmed Antarctica to be a true continent. He served as a consultant for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the US military, and the State and Defence Departments. Other posts include a delegate to the Nuclear Test Ban Conference in Geneva, a member of the President's Science Advisory Committee (1961–4), and director of the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (1977–81).

Notable accomplishments

President of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1981-1993) Chairman of the National Research Council (1981-1993) Science Advisor to the President of the United States, Office of Science and Technology Policy (1977-1980) Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy (1977-1980) Professor of Geophysics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Chairman of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Professor of Geophysics at California Institute of Technology and Director of the Caltech Seismological Laboratory Life Member of the Corporation of MIT Board member of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the Marine Biological Laboratory, and the Monterey Bay Research Institute

Awards

U.S. National Medal of Sciences Vannevar Bush Award Pupin Medal from Columbia University Japan Prize from the Japan Emperor (1993) Lomonosov Gold Medal, 1997