Paul G. Richards is an English-born, American seismologist who has made fundamental contributions to the theory of seismic wave link propagation and in methods to understand how the recorded shapes of seismic waves are affected by processes of diffraction, attenuation and scattering.
Background
He was born in England and attended Cambridge University where he earned his Bachelor of Arts (Bachelor) in Mathematics in 1965 and Caltech where he earned his Masters of Science (Mississippi) in Geology in 1966 and his D. of Philosophy (Doctor of Philosophy) in Geophysics in 1970.
Education
Bachelor, Cambridge University, England, 1965. Master of Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 1966. Doctor of Philosophy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 1970.
Career
He is the Mellon Professor of the Natural Sciences at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University. His thesis title was, "A contribution to the theory of high frequency elastic waves, with applications to the shadow boundary of the Earth"s core." From 1979 to 1996, Richards was Professor of Geological Sciences, Columbia University and from 1996 to present, he is Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University. Since 1997, he has been the Mellon Professor of the Natural Sciences, Columbia University.
He has taken a number of academic leaves, including years in Washington working on nuclear arms control in the United States. Department of State, and four sabbaticals taken in New Zealand, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and as a Phi Beta Kappa lecturer.
He co-authored with Keiiti Aki "Quantitative Seismology: theory and methods". He is the author of more than 130 peer-reviewed publications.
He has an H-index of 21. His most cited publications are Song and Richards (1996) (199 citations) and Richards and Menke (1983) (169 citations).
Fellow American Association for the Advancement of Science, Royal Astronomical Society, American Academy Arts and Sciences, American Geophysical Union (member council 1990-1994, president seismology section, 1992-1996. Macelwane award 1976). Member Inc. Research Institutions for Seismology (chairman presidential search committee, 1985, 1990, executive committee, 1987-1990, vice-chairman board directors, 1988-1990, standing committee data management center, 1996-1999, nominating committee, 2003-2004), Seismological Society America (board directors 2002-2009, Reid medalist 2009), Society Exploration Geophysicists, Arms Control Association.
Connections
Married Jody Margaret Porterfield, June 1, 1968. Children: Mark, Jessica, Gillian.
Recipient Leo Szilard lectureship award, American Physical Society, 2006. Sloan Foundation research fellow, 1973-1977, Guggenheim Foundation fellow, 1977-1978, MacArthur Foundation fellow, 1981-1986, fellow Royal Norwegian Council Scientific and Industrial Research, 1989. William C. Foster fellow and visiting scholar, United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1984-1985, 1993-1994.
Visiting scholar Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1997, Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar, 2000-2001.
Recipient Leo Szilard lectureship award, American Physical Society, 2006. Sloan Foundation research fellow, 1973-1977, Guggenheim Foundation fellow, 1977-1978, MacArthur Foundation fellow, 1981-1986, fellow Royal Norwegian Council Scientific and Industrial Research, 1989. William C. Foster fellow and visiting scholar, United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1984-1985, 1993-1994.
Visiting scholar Los Alamos National Laboratory, 1997, Phi Beta Kappa visiting scholar, 2000-2001.