Back to the Home Page
Kyoto Prize
Symposium
Kyoto Scholarships
Benefit Gala
Laureates and
Photo Downloads
Press Releases and
Video Archive
Japan
Site


Press Releases
Archived Press Releases
Video Archive
2007 Kyoto Prize Laureates
Basic Sciences Category

Prize Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences, Astronomy and Astrophysics

Dr. Hiroo Kanamori
Immunologist and Geneticist

Affiliation: California Institute of Technology
Title: Professor Emeritus
Date of Birth: October 17, 1936
Nationality: Japan

Background: Dr. Hiroo Kanamori's epoch-making progress in studying great earthquakes includes establishing analytical methods that make full use of seismograms for a better quantitative understanding of the rupture process. His work has opened a new era in seismology and made a significant impact on the development of geophysics. He has offered practical proposals on how to mitigate earthquake hazards and has contributed to the creation and operation of today’s earthquake hazard mitigation systems.

Profile | Citation | Back to Laureates
 Brief Biography:
1936 Born in Tokyo, Japan
1962-1966 Research Associate, The University of Tokyo
1964 Ph.D. (Geophysics), The University of Tokyo
1965-1966 Research Fellow, California Institute of Technology
1966-1970 Associate Professor, The University of Tokyo
1969-1970 Visiting Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1970-1972 Professor, The University of Tokyo
1972-1989 Professor, California Institute of Technology
1989-2005 John E. and Hazel S. Smits Professor of Geophysics, California Institute of Technology
1990-1998 Director, Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
2005-present John E. and Hazel S. Smits Professor of Geophysics Emeritus, California Institute of Technology
2005-2006 Invited eminent scientist of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Award for Eminent Scientists, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University
2006-present Visiting Professor, Nagoya Universityy
 Selected Awards and Honors:
1992 Harry Fielding Reid Medal, The Seismological Society of America
1993 Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship, National Academy of Sciences
1993 California Scientist of the Year Award, California Science Center
1994 Asahi Prize, The Asahi Shimbun
1996 Walter H. Bucher Medal, American Geophysical Union
2004 Japan Academy Prize, The Japan Academy
2006 Person of Cultural Merit Award, Japan
Member: American Academy of Arts and Sciences
 Selected Publications:
1970 Synthesis of long-period surface waves and its application to earthquake source studies-Kurile Islands earthquake of October 13, 1963, Journal of Geophysical Research 75: 5011-5027.
1975 Theoretical basis of some empirical relations in seismology, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 65: 1073-1095 (with Anderson, D. L.).
1977 The energy release in great earthquakes, Journal of Geophysical Research 82: 2981-2876.
1983 The rupture process and asperity distribution of three great earthquakes from long-period diffracted P-waves, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 31: 202-230 (Ruff, L. and Kanamori, H.).
1997 Real-time seismology and earthquake hazard mitigation, Nature 390: 461-464 (with Hauksson, E. and Heaton, T.).


Profile | Citation | Back to Laureates | back to top
Inamori Foundation KYOTO Prizes