Russian Scientist to Join Purdue Research Efforts


Vladimir Keilis-Borok During the spring 1997 semester, Purdue earthquake researchers will be joined by Prof. V. Keilis-Borok, one of the most recognized earth scientists in the world. His scientific biography is exceptional. Taking advantage of the traditional interest of Russian "pure" mathematicians in applied problems, Keilis-Borok established the Institute for Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics in Moscow, which was strengthened by the direct involvement of world-class mathematicians like L. Kantorovich, I. Gelfand, Ya. Sinai, and their schools. The Institute is known for its pioneering contributions in the fields of earthquake prediction, seismic risk, verification of compliance to nuclear test ban treaties, structure of the earth, exploration for mineral deposits, signal processing, wave propagation, geophysical hydrodynamics, and the magnetic dynamo. One of the most recent achievements of scientists at the Institute was the application of the concept of chaos to the dynamics of the lithosphere. This approach led to the development of earthquake prediction algorithms and to a new understanding of instability of large systems in general; potential applications range from geological disasters to megacities and socio-economic systems.

Professor Keilis-Borok is a member of numerous academies, including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1969), the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1971), the Russian Academy of Sciences (1988), the Royal Astronomical Society (1989), the Austrian Academy of Sciences (1992), the Pontifical Academy of Sciences (1995 and member of the Council since 1996). Other honors include a Doctor Honoris Causa from the University of Paris in 1995. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences simultaneously with Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov, and Kantorovich (a Nobel Prize winner in economics).

Keilis-Borok has been a leading figure in international scientific cooperation, serving as president and chair to several international organizations of which he is a member. His cooperative involvement with the U.S. has included efforts to enhance the capability of detecting nuclear explosions (he boldly ignored contentious political disputes). He also participated in scientific efforts with Israeli scientists, which continued in spite of the Six Day War and the subsequent freeze in relations between Israel and the USSR.

Keilis-Borok was a leader of the group that introduced into the study of seismicity new theoretically-based nonlinear dynamics, with its concepts of chaos and self-organization, and a new culture of data analysis (pattern recognition of infrequent events). This is among the few branches of artificial intelligence which outperform humans in the study of processes of high complexity. Famous Russian mathematician I. Gelfand, together with distinguished American geophysicists F. Press and L. Knopoff, participated in the application of these techniques to the analysis of seismicity. KeilisBorok established a new school of earthquake prediction researchÑseveral prediction algorithms are currently being tested.

During his visit, Professor Keilis-Borok will teach, jointly with Purdue Professor Andrei Gabrielov, a graduate course entitled "Dynamics of Seismicity," in which students will study earthquake sequences and earthquake prediction, based on observations and mathematical models, with the application of nonlinear dynamics and pattern recognition methods.


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