Background
Born in Darmstadt, Germany, on June 4, 1889, Gutenberg was the son of Hermann Gutenberg and Pauline Hachenburger Gutenberg.
Born in Darmstadt, Germany, on June 4, 1889, Gutenberg was the son of Hermann Gutenberg and Pauline Hachenburger Gutenberg.
Gutenberg studied at the Realgymnasium and the Technische Hochschule in Darmstadt, completing course work in physics, chemistry and mathematics. While attending the University of Goettingen, his passion shifted from mathematics and physics to climatology. He also took courses with Emil Wiechert, a learned seismologist who taught Gutenberg practically everything then known in the field of seismology. Gutenberg decided to carry out his doctoral studies in the area of microseisms—weak, recurring vibrations of the earth’s crust. He was awarded a doctoral degree in 1911.
Gutenberg began his career in 1911 as an assistant in the International Seismological Association and held this post till 1918.
During World War I, Gutenberg served in the German army as a meteorologist in support of gas warfare operations.
Beno continued his research in his spare time. There are hints that Gutenberg's Jewish background might have played a role because, already in the 1920s, there were strong antisemitic tendencies in German universities.
For similar reasons, he was also not accepted for a professorship in Potsdam to become the successor of Gustav Angenheister. Since Gutenberg could not sustain a career of scientific work in Germany, he accepted a position as of Geophysics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena in 1930, becoming founding director of the Seismological Laboratory when it was transferred to Caltech from Carnegie. Even if he had obtained a full professorship in Germany, he would have lost it in 1933 anyway like so many other scientists of Jewish ancestry, at least 30 of whom emigrated to the United States under Gutenberg's sponsorship.
Gutenberg, especially in his collaboration with Charles Francis Richter, made the California Institute of Technology Seismological Laboratory the leading seismological institute worldwide.
Another famous result, known as Gutenberg–Richter law, provides probability distribution of earthquakes for a given energy.
Beno also worked on determining the depth of the core-mantle boundary as well as other properties of the interior of the earth.
Gutenberg remained director of the Seismological Laboratory until 1957, when he was succeeded by Frank Press.
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.