An Evening with Tom Hanks
Tuesday December 2, 2008
Later today I'll be attending a function that includes dinner with, and a talk by, the great Tom Hanks. You know, Tom Hanks, the seismologist who dethroned Richter. Is there some other Tom Hanks?
I've been doing double-takes ever since I came to the San Francisco Bay area, because two guys with the same name are closely associated with this region. One is some sort of movie actor. The other is a scientific silverback perhaps best known for his role in formulating the moment magnitude scale for earthquakes in 1979. The moment magnitude scale is what every newsreader calls "the Richter scale"—and while every seismologist pretends to be disgruntled about it, they all appreciate that at least the media remembers to use a scientific measurement at all.
There must be other doppelganger geoscientists out there.
Comments
That’s great! I had the pleasure of working with Tom a few summers ago. He was helping out Dr. Leonard Sklar (SFSU) and his students with some research projects.
Tom and I spent a few days together scurrying around outcrops at Lake Powell, searching for old Colorado River pediments.
In fact, here are a few photos from one of the days were working together.
Anyway, his work on repeat photography is great. I wish I had time to attend today!