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Bruce Bolt (February 15, 1930 – July 21, 2005) was an Australian-born American seismologist and a professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Bolt was known as a pioneer of seismic engineering. He served for 15 years on the California Seismic Safety Commission leading public debate on earthquake safety in that state, and acted as a consultant on major projects throughout the world. As well, Bolt published a number of popular and technical books on seismology.
His research led to construction of earthquake resilient bridges and buildings. Bolt was elected to the National Academy of Engineering "for application of the principles of seismology and applied mathematics to engineering decisions and public policy".
Since 2006, there is an award with his name, the Bruce A. Bolt Medal, to recognize individuals worldwide whose accomplishments involve the promotion and use of strong-motion earthquake data and whose leadership in the transfer of scientific and engineering knowledge into practice or policy has led to improved seismic safety.
Bolt identified that the epicenter of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake was near Daly City, California not near Olema, California in Marin County as had been previously thought. He also helped to design a simulation of the 1906 quake at the California Academy of Sciences museum in Golden Gate Park which has been seen by millions of people. He has written a number of works including Earthquakes: a Primer in 1978 and Inside the Earth: Evidence from Earthquakes in 1982.
Professor Bolt served on the California Seismic Safety Commission for 15 years including a year as chairman in 1986. In that position, he had a significant impact on California's earthquake safety legislation and helped to create that states mandatory system of earthquake hazard mapping.
Bruce retired from teaching in 1993 and became professor emeritus of seismology, thus continuing his academic activities until his death. He was a consultant on seismology for every major earthquake engineering project including on the Diablo Canyon Power Plant as well as international projects including the Aswan Dam, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and BART tube under the San Francisco Bay.
After the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, he started to work on characterizing the seismic sources and assessing tsunami risk. This probably was his last work as consultant on seismology.
Bolt died of pancreatic cancer in July 2005 at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Oakland. He was a citizen of the US at the time of his death.
Bruce Bolt received many awards for his scientific achievements, among them:
In 1995, Bolt delivered the fifth Mallet-Milne memorial lecture (entitled From Earthquake Acceleration to Seismic Displacement) for the Society for Earthquake and Civil Engineering Dynamics, in London.
In 2006, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute jointly with the Seismological Society of America established an award in his name, The Bruce A. Bolt Medal, to recognize individuals worldwide whose accomplishments involve the promotion and use of strong-motion earthquake data and whose leadership in the transfer of scientific and engineering knowledge into practice or policy has led to improved seismic safety.
He also wrote almost 200 research papers, including:
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