page_title: List of geophysicists
section_title: B
hierarchical_section_title: List of geophysicists / B
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Albert Francis Birch (1903-1992), geophysicist
context_page_description: This is a list of geophysicists, people who made notable contributions to geophysics, whether or not geophysics was their primary field. These include historical figures who laid the foundations for the field of geophysics. More recently, some of the top awards for geophysicists are the Vetlesen Prize; the William Bowie Medal; the Maurice Ewing Medal; and the Crafoord Prize for geosciences. Some geophysicists have also won more general prizes such as the Nobel Prize and the Kyoto Prize.
context_section_description: George Edward Backus (American, 1930–) – geophysical mathematician, development of geophysical inverse methods; contributions to dynamo theory
  Peter Barlow (English, 1776–1862) – experimental and observational studies of terrestrial magnetism, Copley Medal
  Anthony R. Barringer (Canadian/American, 1925–2009) – developed the INPUT airborne electromagnetic system for detecting ores ; Maurice Ewing Medal (SEG)
  Julius Bartels (German, 1899–1964) – contributed to physics of the Sun and Moon; geomagnetism, meteorology and the physics of the ionosphere
  Louis Bauer (American, 1865–1932) – mapped the Earth's magnetic field
  Hugo Benioff (American, 1899–1968) – discovered  link between deep earthquakes and subduction zones
  Lloyd Berkner (American, 1905–1967) – studied the ionosphere
  Henry Bryant Bigelow (American, 1879–1967) – awarded the William Bowie Medal
  Francis Birch (American, 1903–1992) – developed theoretical and experimental models for the Earth's interior;  Vetlesen Prize
  Kristian Birkeland (Norwegian, 1867–1917) – first realized that energetic electrons cause the aurora; nominated 7 times for Nobel Prize
  Abu Rayhan Biruni (Persian, 973–1048) – made accurate measure of circumference of Earth and other contributions to geodesy
  Jacob Bjerknes (Norwegian-American, 1897–1975) – awarded the William Bowie Medal
  Patrick Blackett (English, 1897–1974) – paleomagnetism, continental drift, Nobel Prize
  Martin Bott (British, 1926–) – magnetic anomalies, gravity anomalies
  Pierre Bouguer (French, 1698–1758) – geodesy; the Bouguer gravity anomaly
  William Bowie (American, 1872–1940) – geodesy and isostasy
  Wallace Smith Broecker (American, 1931–2019) – climate, ocean circulation; Crafoord Prize, Vetlesen Prize
  Bernard Brunhes (French, 1867–1910) – paleomagnetism; discovered the first geomagnetic reversal
  Walter Hermann Bucher (German-American, 1888–1965) – awarded the William Bowie Medal
  Edward Bullard (British, 1907–1980) – developed theory of geodynamo, pioneered use of seismology to study the sea floor, and used seafloor bathymetry to test continental drift
  Keith Edward Bullen (New Zealand-born, 1906–1976) – seismological interpretation of the deep structure of the Earth's mantle and core
  Victor Robertovich Bursian (Russian, 1886–1945)pioneer in theory of Electrical resistivity tomography
caption: Francis Birch
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