Amos Nur

Nur was born in Haifa, Israel and studied at the Hebrew Reali High School in the city. As part of his military service, he served as an officer in the paratrooper brigade. In 1962 he completed his studies for a B.Sc degree in geology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He studied for a short period with Fritz Gassmann in Switzerland,{{Cite web |last=Mavko |first=Gary |title=Amos Nur: Early years and education |url=https://wiki.seg.org/wiki/Amos_Nur |website=SEG – Society of Exploration Geophysicists|date=April 6, 2023 }} and went on to doctoral studies in the Department of Geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – MIT in the United States, which he completed in 1969.{{Cite web |title=Professor Amos Noor – one of the top geophysicists in the world |url=https://bog.haifa.ac.il/images/stories/bog2013/Nur-heb.pdf |website=University of Haifa, June 2, 2013 (in Hebrew)}}

Already as a young graduate student at MIT, Nur made discoveries that would have a significant impact. He was among the first to perform an experiment by which he explained anisotropy (shear wave splitting) caused by pressure in rocks. "His work on the elastic properties of fractured rock forms a large part of the experimental and theoretical basis for modern methods for locating and mapping seismic fractures." He was among the first to experimentally see that seismic velocity is sensitive to effective pressure and fluid saturation,{{Cite web |last=De-hua Han and Michael L. Batzle |date=March–April 2004 |title=Gassmann's Equation and Fluid-Saturation Effects on Seismic Velocities |url=https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=ec1f28332ec96f89be2f32f718fe69c95a7aa86d |website=Geophysics, VOL. 69, NO. 2 2004; pp. 398–405}} phenomena that became the "cornerstones" of the discovery and seismic monitoring of oil and other hydrocarbon reservoirs.

When Nur joined the Department of Geophysics, he founded the "[https://pangea.stanford.edu/research/srb/ Stanford Rock Physics and Borehole Geophysics (SRB)]" project there,{{Cite web |title=Stanford Rock Physics and Borehole Geophysics (SRB) |url=https://pangea.stanford.edu/research/srb/ |website=Stanford University – School of Earth Sciences}} one of the earliest university-industry consortia in the country, and one that would become a model for fruitful collaboration between academia and the oil industry. Under his leadership, the SRB project became a leading center for research and development in rock physics experiments, theory and application. Since SRB's inception, Nur and his nearly 100 Ph.D and M.Sc students have developed and established rock physics as a mature technology essential for exploration, reservoir characterization and time-lapse monitoring. In fact, Nur was the first to propose the principles of rock physics for 4D seismic monitoring of oil and gas production. He quantitatively demonstrated how stresses affect the distribution of fractures and how these affect the anisotropy. This has been the laboratory and theoretical basis of almost all modern seismic methods for characterization of fractures.

During the 1970s, he proposed dilatation-diffusion as the mechanism underlying the unusual VP/VS relationships observed before some earthquakes, which gave rise to debates and dozens of scientific articles.{{Cite journal |last=Amos Nur |first=Gene Simmons |date=1969 |title=The effect of saturation on velocity in low porosity rocks. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 7; pp. 183–193 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0012821X69900351 |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters|volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=183–193 |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(69)90035-1 }}

In 1976 he was elected a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, and in 1980 a fellow of the Geological Society of America. In 2001 he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. In 1996 he was awarded honorary membership of Society of Exploration Geophysicists 1996. His ideas on block rotation tectonics led to a better understanding of stress relations in complex environments between tectonic plates.{{Cite web |author1=H. Ron |author2=R. Freund |author3=Z. Garfunkel |author4=A. Nur |title=Block Rotation by Strike-Slip Faulting: Structural and Paleomagnetic Evidence, Journal of Geophisical Research, 89, pp. 6256–6270,. Cited by 419 articles |url=https://scholars.huji.ac.il/sites/default/files/ronshaar/files/ron_et_al-1984-journal_of_geophysical_research.pdf |website=The Hebrew University in Jerusalem}}

Nur became a full professor at Stanford in 1979 and held the Wayne Loel Professorship in Earth Sciences{{Cite web |title=School of Sustainability, Geophysics, Emeritus |url=https://geophysics.stanford.edu/people/emeritus |website=Stanford University}} from 1988 until his retirement.{{Cite web |last=Department of Classics School of Humanities and Sciences |date=January 13, 2017 |title=Amos Nur (Stanford) – Earthquakes and Archaeology: The Catastrophic End of the Bronze Age in 1200 BC |url=https://classics.stanford.edu/events/amos-nur-stanford-earthquakes-and-archaeology-catastrophic-end-bronze-age-1200-bc |website=Stanford University}} He served as Chair of the Geophysics Department, and as Director of Stanford's university - wide Overseas Studies Program.

His documentary "The Fall of the Walls – Earthquakes in the Holy Land", combined geophysical, archaeological and biblical evidence to explore the impact of large earthquakes on ancient and modern societies.{{Cite web |last=Stanford University News Service |title=The Walls Came Tumbling Down – Earthquakes in the Holy Land |url=https://news.stanford.edu/pr/91/910812Arc1234.html |website=WayBackMachine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220820044656/https://news.stanford.edu/pr/91/910812Arc1234.html |archive-date=August 20, 2022 }}{{Cite web |last=Nur |first=Amos |title=And the Walls Came Tumbling Down: Old Testament Writings of Doom and Destruction are Now Providing Researchers with a Record of Earthquakes Spanning 4000 Years |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg13117765-700-and-the-walls-came-tumbling-down-old-testament-writings-ofdoom-and-destruction-are-now-providing-researchers-with-a-record-ofearthquakes-spanning-4000-years/ |website=News Scientist, July 6, 1991}} He expanded on this matter in the book he wrote called "Apocalypse".Amos Nur and Dawn Burgess (2008). Apocalypse: Earthquakes, Archaeology, and the Wrath of God. Princeton University Press 2008, 328 pages Chapter 7 of it focuses on the earthquakes throughout history in the Land of Israel.Nur, Amos, and Dawn Burgess. "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1t1kfzg Expanding the Earthquake Record in the Holy Land]." [https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691016023/apocalypse?srsltid=AfmBOoobK7qbEOn6jYzA52OXcrSPeUBdMzRIWy_v-azIKoJBtMYSzaKB Apocalypse: Earthquakes, Archaeology, and the Wrath of God], Princeton University Press, 2008, pp. 186–223. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1t1kfzg.11. Accessed 30 Dec. 2024. Additional studies that he conducted dealt with the earthquakes that occurred in the Land of Israel throughout history.for exanple: Ben Menahem, A., Nur, A., Vered, M., 1976. [https://ouci.dntb.gov.ua/en/works/7nJKA867/ Tectonics, Seismicity and Structure of the Afro-Euroasian Junction-the Breaking of the Incoherent Plate]. Phys. Earth Planet Interiors, 12: pp. 1–50; Nur, A., Ron, H., Tal, D., 1989. Earthquakes Parameters Infered from Archaeological Evidence. Isr.Geol. Soc., pp. 116–117 In 1991 he won the Silver Apple Award from the National Festival in the United States for Educational Films and Videos, for a video that dealt with the earthquakes in the Holy Land (produced with Prof. Hagai Ron).[https://www.amazon.com/Walls-Came-Tumbling-Down-Earthquakes/dp/B001A7044E Earthquakes in the Holy Land]. Video Cassette, Stanford University.{{Cite web |last=Amos Nur, Hagai Ron |date=1997 |title=Earthquake! Inspiration for Armageddon |url=https://library.biblicalarchaeology.org/article/earthquake/ |website=Biblical Archaeology Society/library, July/August 1997}}

He has also lectured widely on "Oil and War" and the risks associated with growing global competition for energy.

• 1985–1991 and 1997–2000 – Chair of the Geophysics Department, Stanford University
• 2000–2005 – Director of Stanford's university- wide Overseas Studies Program
• 1997–2004 – Director of the Stanford Rock Physics and Borehole Geophysics (SRB) project

• 1974 – American Geophysical Union's Macelwane Medal
• 1975 – Newcomb Cleveland Prize, American Association for the Advancement of Science"For Origin of Velocity Changes before Earthquakes: The Dilatancy Diffusion Hypothesis and Its Confirmation" (from the Newcomb Cleveland Prize Wikipedia article, 1974).
• 1976 – Fellow of American Geophysical Union
• 1980 – Fellow of the Geological Society of America
• 1990 – Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences
• 1991 – Winner of the Silver Apple Award for physical sciences at the National Educational Film Festival
• 1997 – SEG (Society of Exploration Geophysics) Distinguished Lecturer{{Cite web |title=Professor Amos Nur |url=https://emeraldngr.com/professor-amos-nur/ |website=Emerals Energy – Resources Limited}}
• 1998 – AAPG (American Association of Petroleum Geologists) Distinguished Lecturer
• 2001 – member of the National Academy of Engineering
• 2011 – the Ewing Medal from the Society of Exploration Geophysics
• 2013 – honorary doctorate at University of Haifa, Israel

{{reflist}}

• [https://independent.academia.edu/NurAmos Amos Nur] in the academia.edu website
• [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Amos-Nur Amos Nur] in the ResearchGate website

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Category:1938 births

Category:2024 deaths

Category:American geophysicists

Category:American geologists