Aug
28
1:00am
Susan Hough discusses "The Great Quake Debate" with Henry Fountain
By Vroman's & Book Soup Live
About The Great Quake Debate: The Crusader, the Skeptic, and the Rise of Modern Seismology
In the first half of the twentieth century, when seismology was still in in its infancy, renowned geologist Bailey Willis faced off with fellow high-profile scientist Robert T. Hill in a debate with life-or-death consequences for the millions of people migrating west. Their conflict centered on a consequential question: Is southern California earthquake country?
These entwined biographies of Hill and Willis offer a lively, accessible account of the ways that politics and financial interests influenced the development of earthquake science. During this period of debate, severe quakes in Santa Barbara (1925) and Long Beach (1933) caused scores of deaths and a significant amount of damage, offering turning points for scientific knowledge and mainstreaming the idea of earthquake safety.
The Great Quake Debate sheds light on enduring questions surrounding the environmental hazards of our dynamic planet. What challenges face scientists bearing bad news in the public arena? How do we balance risk and the need to sustain communities and cities? And how well has California come to grips with its many faults? (University of Washington Press)
About the speakers
Susan Hough is a research seismologist in Pasadena, California. Her popular-science books include Earthshaking Science: What We Know (and Don't Know) about Earthquakes and Richter's Scale: Measure of an Earthquake, Measure of a Man.
Henry Fountain covers climate change, with a focus on the innovations that will be needed to overcome it. He also writes about other science-related subjects, including earthquakes, hurricanes, mudslides, nuclear accidents and other natural and human-caused disasters. For 10 years he wrote about research findings from across the world of science in Observatory, a weekly column in Science Times. He is the author of The Great Quake, a book about the 1964 Alaskan earthquake.
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