George W. Housner

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| name = George W. Housner

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| birth_date = {{birth date |1910|12|09}}

| birth_place = Saginaw, Michigan{{cite interview |last=Housner |first=George W. |date=1997 |title=George W. Housner |interviewer=Stanley Scott |series=Connections: The EERI Oal History Series |publisher=Earthquake Engineering Research Institute |url=https://www.eeri.org/images/library/oral_histories/4_Housner.pdf |page=1}}

| death_date = {{death date and age |2008|11|10|1910|12|09}}

| death_place = Pasadena, California

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| fields = Civil engineering

| workplaces = California Institute of Technology

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| alma_mater = University of Michigan BSc 1933{{harvnb|

Housner|1997|p=4}}
Caltech MSc 1934
Caltech PhD 1941

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| known_for = Seismological Society of America president (1977)B. F. Howell; [https://web.archive.org/web/20101230093139/http://www.seismosoc.org/inside/history/howell/table1-ssa_officers.html "History of the Seismological Society of America"]. Seismological Research Letters ; 73 (1): 70–83. {{doi|10.1785/gssrl.73.1.70}}

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George W. Housner (December 9, 1910 in Saginaw, Michigan – November 10, 2008 in Pasadena, California) was a professor of earthquake engineering at the California Institute of Technology and National Medal of Science laureate.

Biography

Housner received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Michigan where he was influenced by Stephen Timoshenko. He earned his masters' (1934) and doctoral (1941) degrees from the California Institute of Technology where he had been a professor of earthquake engineering from 1945 to 1981, and professor emeritus thereafter. In 2000, he received an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Southern California.{{Cite web |title=Past Recipients – Honorary Degrees |url=https://honorarydegrees.usc.edu/past-recipients/ |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=honorarydegrees.usc.edu}}

Annually, in recognition of those who made extraordinary contributions to the earthquake safety research, practices and policies, EERI awards The George W. Housner Medal of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute.{{cite web|url=https://www.eeri.org/about-eeri/honors-awards/george-w-housner-medal|title=Honors and Awards: The George W. Housner Medal |date=21 April 2024}} On his death, Housner left a substantial gift to EERI "to advance the objectives of EERI". This gift has been used to train future earthquake engineering policy advocates and thought leaders through the EERI Housner Fellows Program, which has been active since 2011.{{Cite web|title = Housner Fellows Program|url = https://www.eeri.org/projects/housner-fellows-program/|publisher = Earthquake Engineering Research Institute|access-date = 2016-02-18}}

Housner died of natural causes November 10, 2008 in Pasadena, California at the age of 97.{{cite web |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-housner15-2008nov15,0,556695.story?page=1 |title=George W. Housner dies at 97; Caltech professor emeritus was called the father of earthquake engineering |work=Los Angeles Times |date=15 November 2008 |first=John |last=Johnson Jr.}}

Partial list of achievements

Chairman of the earthquake engineering research committee of the National Academy of Sciences{{cite book|author=National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)|title=Annual Report – National Academy of Sciences|year=1965|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=87ArAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA60|publisher=National Academies|page=61}}
Founding Member of the Earthquake Engineering Research InstituteTubbesing, Susan & Anagnos, Thalia. (2008).[https://www.iitk.ac.in/nicee/wcee/article/14_S07-005.PDF The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, a Short History of the U.S. National Earthquake Engineering Society].{{cite book |title=George W. Housner, Connections: The EERI Oral History Series |date=1997 |publisher=Earthquake Engineering Research Institute |location=Oakland, CA |isbn=0-943198-58-5 |pages=131–143 |url=https://www.eeri.org/oral-history-series |access-date=21 April 2024}}
UNESCO representative to International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering in Tokyo{{cite book |title=Housner, George W. Interview by Rachel Prud’homme. |date=1984 |publisher=Oral History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. |location=Pasadena, California |page=28 |url=https://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/23/1/O |access-date=21 April 2024}}
AEC advisory panel on safety against ground shock{{cite book |title=Housner, George W. Interview by Rachel Prud’homme. |date=1984 |publisher=Oral History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. |location=Pasadena, California |page=36 |url=https://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/23/1/O }}
AID consultant at University of Roorkee, India
Chairman of Geologic Hazards Advisory Committee for Organization for the California State Resources Agency{{cite book |title=Housner, George W. Interview by Rachel Prud’homme. |date=1984 |publisher=Oral History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. |location=Pasadena, California |page=37 |url=https://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/23/1/O }}{{cite book |last1=The Geologic Hazards Advisory Committees for Program and Organization |title=Earthquake and Geologic Hazards in California |date=1967 |publisher=Resources Agency of the State of California}}
Chairman of Panel on Aseismic Design and Testing of Nuclear Facilities for International Atomic Energy AgencyInternational Atomic Energy Agency, [https://web.archive.org/web/20200306175906/https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/25/030/25030821.pdf Aseismic Design and Testing of Nuclear Facilities], Technical Reports Series No. 88, IAEA, Vienna. p. 46
Member of Los Angeles County Earthquake Commission{{cite book |last1=Los Angeles County Earthquake Commission |title=Report of the Los Angeles County Earthquake Commission : San Fernando earthquake, February 9, 1971 |date=1971 |publisher=The Commission |location=Los Angeles |pages=ii-iii |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003353737 |access-date=21 April 2024}}
Member of Earthquake Engineering and Hazards Reduction Delegation to People's Republic of China{{cite book |title=George W. Housner, Connections: The EERI Oral History Series |date=1997 |publisher=Earthquake Engineering Research Institute |location=Oakland, CA |isbn=0-943198-58-5 |pages=204–205 |url=https://www.eeri.org/oral-history-series |access-date=21 April 2024}}
Consultant to Japanese Atomic Energy Commission and Italian Nuclear Energy Commission and numerous nuclear energy projects in the U.S.{{cite book |title=Housner, George W. Interview by Rachel Prud’homme. |date=1984 |publisher=Oral History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. |location=Pasadena, California |page=54 |url=https://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/23/1/O |access-date=21 April 2024}}
International Association for Earthquake Engineering (IAEE) President (1969–1973){{cite web |title=IAEE Past Presidents |url=https://www.iaee.or.jp/organization/past_presidents.html |publisher=International Association for Earthquake Engineering |access-date=21 November 2024}}
Elected to National Academy of Sciences 1972{{cite web |title=George W. Housner |url=https://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/54380.html |website=Member Directory |publisher=National Academy of Sciences |access-date=21 April 2024}}
Named Braun Professor of Engineering at Caltech 1974{{cite web |last1=Weiner |first1=Jon |title=George W. Housner, 97 |url=https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/george-w-housner-97-1485 |publisher=Caltech |access-date=21 April 2024}}{{cite book |title=Housner, George W. Interview by Rachel Prud’homme. |date=1984 |publisher=Oral History Project, California Institute of Technology Archives. |location=Pasadena, California |page=57 |url=https://oralhistories.library.caltech.edu/23/1/O }}
Chairman of Earthquake Earthquake Engineering Committee and the Committee on Dam Safety of the National Research Council (NRC)
Delivered second Mallet-Milne memorial lecture for Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics in London, 1989{{cite journal|last1=Campbell|first1=Andy|title=The fifteenth Mallet–Milne lecture|journal=Bulletin of Earthquake Engineering|date=May 2016|volume=14|issue=5|pages=1333–1336|doi=10.1007/s10518-016-9869-8|doi-access=free}}

George W. Housner

Biography

Partial list of achievements

References

Further reading