Jack H. Healy (1929-2012)

Abstract

John (Jack) H. Healy, a visionary geophysicist whose career was spent at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), died in the company of his family on 6 March 2012. His memory is cherished by all who had the privilege of knowing him. His scientific legacy survives him at the USGS Earthquake Science Center in Menlo Park, California, where research projects he founded continue to flourish. Jack H. Healy. Jack was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 7 August 1929 and grew up in Wausau, Wisconsin, a small, midwestern city noted for its lumber mills and a large, national insurance company. Initially an indifferent student, Jack, an only child, became more academically focused following the death of his father. After his mother died when he was 16, he lived alone in his parents’ home until he graduated from high school. His midwestern social environment and the loss of his parents undoubtedly had a life‐long impact on Jack’s close relations with others. Jack was personally very warm and concerned about those around him, both new acquaintances and those he had known for decades. For this reason, and because he was a deep, independent thinker, many people consider Jack to be the person who had the most profound influence on their lives, both scientifically and personally. Jack entered the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1947 and completed a senior thesis in 1951 based on geological field work conducted in the summer of 1949 in Nova Scotia. The work was carried out under the direction of Walter L. Whitehead and Robert R. Shrock, two professors who founded the MIT‐Nova Scotia summer field program. His thesis, co‐authored with two other MIT seniors, argued for an extrusive origin for a suite of rocks that had previously been identified as intrusive. Jack’s firm grounding in geology was an …