Brian Kennett’s Acceptance Speech

I am sorry that I am not able to be in Montréal today for the presentation of the 2019 IASPEI medal. I would like to thank my nominators and the IASPEI Bureau for this unexpected honour.

My association with IASPEI started in 1971 when, as a graduate student, I attended the IUGG General Assembly in Moscow and went to the Seismology Symposia. In 1983 at Hamburg I gave the first of several Association Lectures and then was elected to the Executive Committee at Vancouver in 1987. I served as IASPEI President from 1999 – 2003, which was itself a great honour.

My interests in Seismology have been broad – Including theoretical seismology, array studies, source characterisation and structural seismology on a wide variety of scales. A number of these aspects have come together in my activities with IASPEI, notably effective non-linear earthquake location by parameter space searches, and the development of new representations of travel times for global studies.

I would like to thank my many collaborators for their contributions to understanding the way the Earth works, particularly in studies of the Australasian region and the nature of subduction zones.

The value of IASPEI became very apparent to me when I moved to Australia, indeed it was through IASPEI that I established my Asian connections and made links to many other colleagues. Seismology needs to remain truly international – earthquakes do not respect borders.

Thank you.

Brian L. N. Kennett

(Photograph of Prof. Kazuki Koketsu delivering the Laudation.)