H. Jay Melosh

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H. Jay Melosh (2013)

H. Jay Melosh (born June 23, 1947 in Paterson , New Jersey - † September 11, 2020 ) was an American physicist and geophysicist .

Career

Jay Melosh studied physics at Princeton University with a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in 1969 and geology and physics from Caltech , where he received his doctorate in 1972. Around this time he was doing research at CERN and he was at the Enrico Fermi Institute at the University of Chicago in 1972/73 . At that time he dealt with elementary particle physics ; the Melosh transformation is named after him here. From 1973 he was an instructor at Caltech and then an associate professor . In 1979 he became an Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brookand in 1982 at the University of Arizona in Tucson , where he has been a full professor in Planetary Science from 1985 . In 2004 he became Regent's professor .

He was known for research on the impact of meteorites . He modeled these mathematically (the resulting ring-shaped tectonic structures, the ejection of material and its distribution and also the decay of the meteorites in the atmosphere) and studied novel geological processes such as acoustic fluidization (which combines flow phenomena in meteorite impacts, earthquakes and large-scale landslides). He developed finite element models for plate subduction, folding processes and the structure of the earth's crust and upper mantle.

Melosh studied the tectonics and mechanics of the Late Cretaceous Chixulub Impact , lunar meteorites, Mars meteorites, and the possibility of detecting extraterrestrial life in them (which may have survived impact and entry into Earth's atmosphere), and he said Shoemaker's decay -Levy 9 in fragments near Jupiter ahead. He dealt with the role of impacts in the formation of celestial bodies (formation of the moon, Mars) and with the tectonics of Mercury.

He was visiting professor at Texas A&M University . He was also a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science , the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences (2003). He received the GK Gilbert Award and the Harry H. Hess Medal . In 2005/06 he received the Humboldt Research Award and in 1999 the Barringer Medal of the Meteoritical Society . In 1996/97 he was a Guggenheim Fellow .

He was editor of the Reviews of Geophysics .

Fonts

  • Quarks: currents and constituents, Phys. Rev. D, Volume 9, 1974, pp. 1095-1112
  • Impact Cratering: A Geologic Process, Oxford University Press 1989
  • Acoustic fluidization, a new geological process?, Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 84, 1979, pp. 7513-7520
  • Acoustic fluidization, American Scientist, Vol. 71, 1983, pp. 158-165
  • Ejection of rock fragments from planetary bodies, Geology, Volume 13, 1985, pp. 144-148

literature

  • Alexander E. Gates: Earth Scientists from A to Z, Facts on File, 2003

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dates of death of H. Jay Melosh
personal data
SURNAME Melosh, H. Jay
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American geophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Paterson , New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH September 11, 2020