Vincit Veritas A Portrait of The Life and Work of Norman Abraham Haskell, 1905-1970 At the helm of his schooner Aleda II in Boston Harbor, summer 1958. Vincit Veritas A Portrait of The Life and Work of Norman Abraham Haskell, 1905-1970 Ari Ben-Menahem, Editor AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Vincit veritas: a portrait of the life and work of Norman Abraham Haskell, 1905- 1970 / Ari Ben-Menahem, editor. p.cm. Includes a selection of the papers of N.A. Haskell. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-87590-762-8 1. Haskell, Norman Abraham, 1905-1970. 2. Geophysics. 3. Geophysicists--United States--Biography. I. Haskell, Norman Abraham, 1905-1970. II. Ben-Menahem, Ari. C)C805.H37V56 1990 550'.92--dc20 90-1288 IBI cIP Copyright1 990b y the AmericanG eophysicaUl nion,2 000F loridaA venue, NW, Washington,D C 20009 Figurest,a blesa, nd shorte xcerptsm ayb e reprintedin scientifibco oksa nd journalsif the sourceis properlyc ited. Authorizationt o photocopyi tems for internal or personalu se, or the internal or personalu se of specificc lients, is grantedb y the American GeophysicaUln ionf or librariesa ndo theru sersr egisterewd ith theC opyright ClearanceC enter( CCC) TransactionaRl eportingS ervice,p rovidedt hat the basef ee of $1.00p er copy, plus $0.10p er page is paid directlyt o CCC, 21 CongresSs treet,S alem,M A 01970.0 065-8448/89/$0+1 .. 10. Thisc onsendt oesn ot extendt o otherk indso f copying,s ucha sc opyingfo r creatingn ew collectivwe orkso r for resale.T he reproductioonf multiple copiesa nd theu seo f full articleso r theu seo f extractsin, cludingfi guresa nd tablesf,o r commerciaplu rposesre quiresp ermissiofnr omA GU. Printed in the United States of America. TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Contributors ix Preface xi A Tribute to Norman--Frank Press xiii Haskell at AFCRL--Donald H. Eckhardt xv Haskella nd ContemporarGy eophysics--MN. afi ToksSz xvi SECTION I: FAMILY BACKGROUND, GENEALOGY AND CHRONOLOGY Compiledb y the Editor 3 SECTION I1: IN REMEMBRANCE My Father--Peter A. Haskell 15 Norman Haskell as l Remember Him--Jack Oliver 19 NormanH askell'sC ontributiontso RestartingG eophysics at M.I.T.--Theodore R. Madden 125 Recollections of a Grateful Student--James Dorman 126 Dr. N. Haskell,V ela Uniform Impact--William J. Best 128 SECTION II1: APPRECIATION OF COLLEAGUES NormanA .' Haskell:T he Viscosityo f the Asthenosphere Freeman'Gilbert 3! Haskell'sW ork on Atmospherica nd LithospheriWc ave Guides-- David G. Harkrider 34 Haskella nd the Originso f the New SourceT heory-- Ari Ben-Menahem 38 Haskell'sS ource-MechanismPa persa nd Their Impacto n ModernS eismology--KeiitAi ki 412 Haskell'sS eismicS ourceT heory--LeonK nopoff 46 v Table of Contents SECTION IV: SELECTED PAPERS 1935-1938 The motion of a viscousf luid under a surfacel oad, Physics, 6, 265-269, 1935. The motiono f a viscousfl uid undera surfacel oad, part II, Physics, 7, 56-61, 1936. The viscosityo f the asthenosphereA, merican Journal of Science, œ$$,2 2-28, 1937. Significancoef gravitya nomaliesin relationt o the viscositoy f the asthenosphereN, ature, 1(cid:127)1, 411, 1938. 1951-1962 Asymptotica pproximationfo r the normal modesi n soundc han- nel wave propagationJ, ournal of Applied Physics,2 2, 157-168, 1951. The dispersiono f surfacew aveso n multilayeredm edia, Bulletin of the SeismologicaSl ocietyo f America, dS, 17-34, 1953. Crustalr eflectiono f planeS H waves,J ournal of GeophysicaRl e- search, 65, 4147-4150, 1960. Crustalr eflectiono f planeP and SV waves,J ournal of Geophys- ical Research,6 7, 4751-4767, 1962. 1963-1967 Radiationp atterno f Rayleighw avesf rom a fault of arbitraryd ip and directiono f motioni n a homogeneoums edium,B ulletin of the SeismologicaSl ociety of America, 53, 619-642, 1963. Total energya nd energys pectrald ensityo f elasticw aver adiation from propagatingfa ults, Bulletin of the SeismologicaSl ocietyo f America, 5(cid:127), 1811-1841, 1964. Total energya nd energys pectrald ensityo f elasticw ave radia- tion from propagatingfa ults, Part II. A statisticasl ourcem odel, Bulletin of the SeismologicaSl ocietyo f America, 56, 125-140, 1966. Analytica pproximatiofno r the elasticr adiationf rom a contained undergrounde xplosion,J ournal of GeophysicaRl esearch, 7œ, 2583-2587, 1967. SECTION V: LETTERS 20] Dear Dr. HaskelI--G. F. HusseyJ, r., RearA dmiral, U.S. Navy. Dear Dr. Haskell--HaroldB rown,S ecretaryo f the Departmento f the Air Force. vi Table of Contents Dear Norm--Alfred R. Deptula, Lt. Col., USAF. Dear Norm--Robert A. Gray,L t. Col., USAF. Dear Dr. Haskell--LeoA . Kiley,B rigadierG eneral,U SAF. vii LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Frank Press William J. Best PresidentN, ationalA cademyo f Sciences 907 Westwood Dr., NE 2101 Constitution Avenue, NW Vienna, VA 22180 WashingtonD, C 20418 Freeman J. Gilbert Donald H. Eckhardt Instituteo f Geophysicasn d PlanetaryP hysics Director, Earth SciencesD ivision ScrippsIn stitutiono f OceanographUyC SD GeophysicLsa boratory La Jolla, CA 92093-0225 Air ForceS ystemsC ommand Hanscom AFB, Bedford, MA 01731 David G. Harkrider Divisiono f Geologicaaln d PlanetaryS ciences M. Nafi ToksSz CaliforniaIn stituteo f Technology Director,E arth ResourceLsa boratory Pasadena, CA 91125 MassachusettIsn stituteo f Technology E34-400, 42 Carleton St. Ari Ben-Menahem CambridgeM, A 02142 Earth Sciences Division GeophysicLsa boratory Peter A. Haskell HanscomA ir Force Base, MA 01731 19924 Acre Street and NorthridgeC, A 91324 Departmento f AppliedM athematics Weizmann Institute of Science Jack Oliver Rehovot 76100, Israel Departmenot f GeologicaSl ciences Snee Hall Keiiti Aki CornellU niversity Departmenot f GeologicaSl ciences Ithaca, NY 13853-1504 Universityo f SouthernC alifornia LosA ngeles,C A 90089-0741 Theodore R. Madden Departmento f Earth, Atmospherica, nd Leon Knopoff PlanetaryS ciences Instituteo f Geophysicasn d PlanetaryP hysics MassachusettIsn stituteo f Technology Universitoyf CaliforniaL, osA ngeles CambridgeM, A 02139 LosA ngeles,C A 90024-1567 James Dorman Associate Director Centerf or EarthquakeR esearcha nd Information MemphisS tate University Memphis,T N 38152 ix List of Contributors Individuals and Institutions That Contributed Information and Doc- uments Ruth P. Liebowitz, GL Historian, HanscomA F Base, MA 01731 RobertA . Shrock,L exingtonM, A 02173 Nancy Haskell,C ummaquidM, A 02637 Peter A. Haskell,N orthridgeC, A 91324 HarvardU niversityA lumniR ecordO ff:iceC, ambridgeM, A 02138 The M.I.T. MuseumC, ambridgeM, A 02139 PREFACE Upon my arrivalt o AFGL in the autumno f 1988, I found in my offices ome of Haskell'so ld papersa nnotatedw ith his own handwriting. I started to look for morei n the neighborinogf ficesa nd finallyc ame acrossa box of lettersa nd notesi n the ResearchL ibrary..VVheIn s howedt his materialt o Don Eckhardt,h is immediater eactionw as: Why don't you edit a Haskellm emorialv olume?. I soond iscoveredth at this undertakingw ould not be easy. I had met Normana few timesd uringS SAa ndA GU meetingisn the sixtiesb, ut apartf romt heseb rief, professionaeln counters,I knew little about him. The old timers at AFGL, few as they were,c ouldc overo nly narrowa spectso f his life and career. Eighteeny ears mayh aven os ignificancoen the geologicatilm e scale,b ut it sufficesto erasem any traces of a man's material existence. Apartf rom an extensivsee archin the literature,I begant o lookf or nexto f kin and true friends.T hroughH arvard'sa lumnir ecordo fficeI reachedh is daughter, Nancy,a nd met her at her Cummaquidh omew here Haskells pent the last three yearso f his life. In the serenet ranquilityo f the Cape, overlookingB arnstable Harbor,t he housea nd its interiors eemt o belongt o somer etireds ea captaino f bygoneti mes. The family room hasb eenk ept intact and its atmosphereim bues one with a feelingt hat time stoods till. There, Nancyt old me the story of the family clock,w hich I shall narratei n SectionI . Later I flew to Californiat o meet Norman'ss on, Peter, and obtainedf rom him additionadl ocumentsa nd an invaluablev, ivid imageo f his father, whicha t my requesth e agreedt o portrayi n this book. Someo f Haskell'sp eers,c olleagues, friendsa, nds tudentsc herishehdi sm emoryth roughoutth e yearst o sucha n extent that, four decadesla ter, they still were undert he spello f his charisma.A ir Force Generalsh, ighr ankingg overnmenotf ficialsa, nds cholarfsr omt he academicw orld alikew ereu nitedi n their respecta nd appreciationo f his scientifica chievements and exceptionapl ersonality.H owever,i t is commonlyf elt by all participantso f this volume that the world of scienceb ears an overdue debt to Norman A. Haskell, whosec ontributiontso moderns eismologayn d geophysichsa ve been underesti- mated. I hopet hat this volumes ervesa s a tokeno f recognitionan d gratitude. I acknowledgteh e endeavorosf all thosew hoc ontributedd irectlya ndi ndirectly to this book. Foremosits Dr. Don Eckhardtf or his unfailinge ffortst o issuea nd improveth isv olume.I am indebtedto Dr. FrankP ressf or hise ncouragemenatn d to Dr. M. Nafi ToksSzf or his advicei n the productiono f the manuscript.I cannot overstatem y thankst o Nancya nd Peter Haskellw, ho haves uppliedm e with most of the biographicaml aterial. Drs. Jack Oliver, James Dorman, Ted Madden, FreemanG ilbert, David Harkrider, Keiiti Aki, Leon Knopoff,N afi ToksSz,a nd Mr. William Best respondedto my call and dedicated their time to the success of this book. I thank them all. xi