Stevenson receives Hess Medal

Abstract

David J. Stevenson was awarded the Harry H. Hess Medal at the AGU Spring Meeting Honors Ceremony, which was held on May 27, 1998, in Boston, Massachusetts. The Harry H. Hess Medal recognizes outstanding achievements in the research of the constitution and evolution of Earth and its sister planets.A meaningful understanding of the Earth and planets requires explaining their differences. This explanation of planetary processes is difficult partly because it entails a wide range of scales—from microscale, operating at the atomic level, to macroscale, determined by boundaries thousands of kilometers apart. David Stevenson's graduate study was mainly in theoretical condensedmatter physics, but he is remarkable in his grasp of large‐scale planetary processes such as mantle convection and the dynamos. He is also remarkable in his ‘instinct to attack the jugular,’ that is to go for the most important problems and for the versatility of his approaches thereto.