Did you know?

Costa Rica has "colon" as its monetary unit, and there are about 290 colons per one dollar.

1980
SEG celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a number of special activities. November Geophysics was a special issue featuring 50 Years of Progress, 1930-80; Daniel J. Silverman, S. Norman Domenico, and Mrs. David B. Darden served as special editors. The Society's largest convention (before or since) drew an unprecedented 12 319 registrants to Houston. A special feature at the meeting was a multimedia presentation on "Memories of Yesterday, Visions of Tomorrow," a four part chronicle of the history of SEG and the industry over the past five decades. It was narrated by former SEG presidents W. B. (Robby) Robinson and Carl H. Savit; former AAPG president M. Halbouty; and our own "Sweetheart of SEG," Bettye Athanasiou. Founders of the society (11 came for the ceremony) received special plaques and the first Gold Certificates. Special ribbons, badges, and lapel pins were also provided for founders, honorary members, and other major SEG award winners. New publications appearing during the year: Interval Velocities from Seismic Reflection Time Measurements, by Peter Hubral and Theodor Krey; Digital Tape Standards, by the Technical Standards Committee; and a monograph on the Generalized Reciprocal Method of Seismic Refraction, by Derecke Palmer, edited by K. B. S. Burke. SEG cosponsored the 1980 Pecora Conference with AAPG and the Geosat Committee. A one day colloquium on "Large Data Systems Oil and Gas Exploration" was sponsored by SEG during the IEEE symposium on circuits and systems. New student sections chartered: University of Houston and Queen's University at Kingston, Ontario. New Standing Committee: Public Affairs. Cumulative Index 1936-79 distributed as a supplement to December Geophysics.

Personals: Roy O. Lindseth elected president of the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists, and Geophysicists of Alberta ... John L. Hern joined Aladdin Petroleum ... David W. Zwart now with Anschutz Corp. in Denver ... Alex Becker appointed director of research for Questor Surveys Ltd.... Wulf Massell now director of R&D for Petty Ray Geophysical ... Kandia Balachandran promoted to senior research geophysicist with Union Oil of California in Brea ... Charles F. Earley named chief geophysicist for Getty Oil (Britain) Ltd., based in London ... Patents Editor W. J. Scherback retired from Mobil Oil Corp. after 24 years and is now a partner of Scherback, Jackson and Faulconer, a patent law firm in Dallas ... Isidore Zietz resigned from the USGS after 40 years and joined Phoenix Corp. Membership: 14 172

1981
January Geophysics appeared in a new size (8 1/4 x 11 inches) much to the consternation of many readers. The seismic crew count reached an all time monthly high of 744. Six 50-year founding members received Gold Certificates and 150 received Silver Certificates for 25 years of continuous membership. SEG's Publications and Continuing Education departments outgrew the Headquarters building and moved down the street into new offices. A new business manager and communications manager were added to the staff. An ad hoc committee chaired by Bettye Athanasiou recommended SEG publish a "Newsletter." 43 continuing education courses were presented in 13 cities during 1981, including two held at the EAEG Annual Meeting in Vienna. Four new volumes were published by SEG: Seismic Wave Attenuation, M. N. Toksoz and D. H. Johnston, editors; Manuals of Hand Calculator Programs: Magnetotellurics in Oil Exploration in the U.S.S.R., translated by G.V. Keller; K. Vozoff, special editor; and Index of Wells Shot for Velocity, William J. Zwart, special editor. A delegation met with the China Geophysical Society in a week long meeting in the PRC. George R. Pickett served as 1981 distinguished lecturer. New student sections chartered at the University of Ohio and SUNY at Binghamton. 111 scholarships totaling US$110 700 awarded for 1981-82; six were sponsored by proceeds of the annual continuing education seminar of the Geophysical Society of Oklahoma City. Following the Annual Meeting in Los Angeles, three research workshops were presented Thursday afternoon and another all day Friday. The uncrowded Icebreaker reception, held in the exhibits area on Sunday evening, was a howling success; 316 exhibitors proudly displayed their technological wonders in 906 booths. Council approved requirement for expanded abstracts for the 1982 Annual Meeting. The Society sponsored five technical sessions and 2 panel sessions at the 13th OTC where more than 100 000 registered. Worldwide spending for all geophysical methods reached a staggering $4 billion in booming 1981.

Personals: Mike B. Scott accepted a position as exploration manager of Texas Gas Exploration (UK) in London ... E. O. Nestvold now chief geophysicist for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group in The Hague ... Jack M. Proffitt, former chairman of IAGC, was awarded their fifth life membership ... R. K. Bortfeld named director of the Geophysics Institute at Technical University Clausthal, West Germany ... Sally A Griffiths joined PanCanadian Petroleum Co. in Denver as senior geophysicist, northern region ... Robert D. Regan appointed VP/assistant to the president of Barringer Resources ... William R. Laws elected executive VP of Geosource ... M. Turhan Taner founded Seismic Research Corp..... James LeGate joined Professional Geophysics as manager of their new office in Salt Lake City ... James A. Kurfess named regional manager of Latin American exploration for Occidental Exploration and Production ... Frank Press elected president of the National Academy of Sciences for a 6 year term ... Former SEG President E. John Northwood appointed senior VP, exploration and production, for Transcontinental Oil Corp. in Shreveport ... Frank K. Levin received AIME's Robert Earll McConnell Award ... Paul Newman named director, technical services, for Horizon Exploration Ltd.... Thomas R. LaFehr appointed to the advisory subcommittee of geodynamics and geology of the NASA Advisory Council. Membership: 15 196

1982
A campaign was underway to raise US$12.3 million to endow the SEG Foundation with funds allocated for the Geophysical Resource Center building, expanded scholarship program, professorial grants, public information, and increased emphasis on publications and continuing education. A fat, 158 page Geophysics, The Leading Edge of Exploration (TLE), the Society's new monthly nontechnical publication, made a controversial debut in June. The premier issue included cover stories on Cecil Green and Gerald Westby, two of SEG's most distinguished members; a lavishly illustrated (color photographs, yet!) eight page article on the magnificent mansion of a former governor of Oklahoma; a piece on soccer; a crossword puzzle; and a cartoon or two. Other new publications in 1982: SQUID Applications to Geophysics, Harold Weinstock and William C. Overton, editors; SE Metric System of Units and SEG Tentative Metric Standard, by the SEG Metrication Subcommittee; Concepts and Techniques in Oil and Gas Exploration, Kamal Jain and Rui de Figuereido, Editors; and Pitfalls Revisited, by Paul M. Tucker. In addition, Careers n Geophysics was revised in a handsome four color brochure. The Council approved reapportionment to provide equal representation from 10 defined worldwide geographic 1 districts in addition to Sections. Highlight of the 52nd Annual Meeting in Dallas was an appearance by U.S. Vice-President George Bush. More than 1030 exhibit spaces were reserved at the meeting; six technical sessions were offered on Regional Gravity/Magnetic Maps. The requirement for expanded abstracts of papers resulted in a whopping 568 page volume. (One local cab driver wanted to order a copy of what he thought was "Dallas and SEX.") SEG received an incredible share of US$218 186 after 108 161 registered at the 14th OTC in Houston. The society cosponsored the third SEG/U.S. Navy Joint Symposium. A new student section was chartered at the University of Ife in Nigeria. SEG withdrew from the AGI. Sven Treitel served as the 1982 distinguished lecturer. 112 scholarships totaling US$130 800 were awarded for 1982-83, including the Brent D. Fuller and Milton B. Dobrin Memorial Scholarships; more than $1 million has been granted by the foundation since its inception.

Personals: Brian R. Spies now VP/chief geophysicist for Electro Magnetic Surveys Inc.... Hubert H. Hunt joined Walter Duncan Oil Properties Inc. as chief geophysicist ... James K. Grigsby elected president/CEO of STM Corp.... M. King Hubbert awarded both Columbia University's Vetlesen Prize (US$50 000 plus a gold medal) and the Franklin Institute's Elliott Cresson Medal ... James B. Coffman named president/CEO of Aminoil USA ... Raymond L. Sengbush now VP, geophysics of Integrated Energy Inc.... Thomas L. Dobecki new VP of technical marketing and development for Fracture Technology Inc.... Howard Dingman, president of Western Geophysical, elected corporate VP of Litton Industries ... Don B. Sheffield elected senior VP, service operations of Geosource ... Robert I. Westmacott joined May Petroleum Inc. as VP/exploration ... William H. Pelton transferred to Denver as president of Phoenix Geophysics Inc.... Enders A. Robinson accepted the distinguished chair in geophysics at the University of Tulsa ... Harold F. Murphree elected chairman of the board of IAGC ... Czango Baag joined Superior Oil's geoscience lab as supervisor of potential fields ... Fred Aminzadeh now associated with Union Oil of California ... James V. Taranik named dean of Mackay School of mines at University of Nevada Reno ... Aaron J. Seriff accepted an appointment as adjunct professor of geology at Rice University. Membership: 17 090; Student members: 1357

1983
A grand total of 10 917 registered at the 53rd Annual Meeting in Las Vegas, the first SEG convention in the "Entertainment Capital of the World"; General Chairman James R. Strawn and his steering committee managed a superb job in carrying out their duties by remote control from Denver. "Early bird" registration on Saturday before the meeting was a smashing success; more than 2770 registered that day. W. Harry Mayne was awarded the fifth Maurice Ewing Medal during the awards ceremonies. The Australian SEG sponsored a symposium on petroleum geophysics with the Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia. Montana Geophysical Society changed its name to Billings Geophysical Society. The 36th Annual Midwest Meeting in Denver featured the largest exhibition in its history. Donations to the SEG Foundation Endowment Campaign reached US$3 138 861. Remote Sensing, SEG's Reprint Series no. 3, was published with Ken Watson and Robert D. Regan serving as editors. Geophysics Editor G.H.F. Gardner was selected by the National Academy of Sciences for the 1983 84 Distinguished Scholar Exchange Program with the PRC.

Personals: Hugh W. Hardy named president of GeoQuest International ... Patrick J. Keiran now chief geophysicist of Canterra Energy Ltd.... Fulton Koehler named senior VP of Seismic Research Corp.... Serge Melikian is executive VP of new CGG American Services Inc.... Charles M. Swift, Jr. promoted to chief geophysicist for Chevron Resources Co.... Sven Treitel elected a fellow by IEEE for distinguished service ... Gerrit T. Maureau joined Aberford Resources Ltd. as VP, exploration ... Gordon P. Eaton appointed provost and VP for academic affairs at Texas A&M ... Group of EDCON employees purchased the Denver based geophysical contracting and consulting firm and it is now 100% employee owned ... William R. Laws, president of Geosource also elected CEO ... Neal E. Wylie, executive VP of Digicon, elected chairman of the board of IAGC ... Gearhart Industries and CGG formed a development operating partnership with 50 years of experience in applied geophysics at CGG and nearly 30 years of well logging services at Gearhart ... Carl H. Savit received IAGC's first Award of Distinguished Achievement ... Vicki Cowart, president of the Association of Women Geoscientists, attended a briefing and luncheon at the White House in honor of American Business Women's Day ... Wayne A. Heitshusen elected VP of Seiscom Delta Inc. Membership: 18 702

1984
SEG's 54th Annual Meeting was held in Atlanta for the First time; with 400+ technical papers in 43 sessions, it was the largest technical program to date. Louis Mayrand, first winner of the new "Student Paper Competition," received a US$500 check at the Presidential Session. The Society of Petroleum Geophysicists of China/SEG joint seminar on Seismic Interpretation was held in Zhuoxian, PRC. The second edition of Robert E. Sheriff's Encyclopedic Dictionary of Exploration Geophysics was published; the completely revised and updated volume contains over 100 more pages and 25% new material. SEG/USN's 4th Biennial Technical Symposium on 3D Marine Data Collection, Processing, Interpretation, and Presentation was held in Bay St. Louis, Missouri. 123 attended SEG's Research Committee Workshop on Seismic Deconvolution in Vail in July. The prosperous Southeastern Geophysical Society in New Orleans donated US$3500 to the University of New Orleans in addition to a US$2500 scholarship to the SEG Foundation. The 20th edition of Index of Wells Shot for Velocity was published with 1023 velocity surveys not previously reported. Midland hosted the 37th Annual Midwest Meeting with the theme, "Technology of the 80s." Name of the Committee for Communications with China was changed to "International Affairs Committee." Australian SEG held a symposium on "Oil and Gas: The Exploration Story" in Melbourne. The 16th OTC, a technical conference only event, drew so few people (5995) from the industry that the OTC executive committee decreed an exhibition would always be included, beginning in 1985; a traditional luncheon by SEG during the OTC was established, drawing 60 hungry geophysicists.

Company/Academic affairs: Colorado School of Mines established a Center for Potential Fields Studies, sponsored by oil firms, geophysical contractors, and government agencies ... Geosource Inc. donated US$145 000 in research equipment to the geophysics program at the University of Kansas ... Seiscom Delta United opened a new data processing center in Bakersfield ... Amoco Foundation donated US$19 900 to support a doctoral fellowship in Cornell University's COCORP program ... Columbia University established the Maurice Ewing/J. Lamar Worzel professorship of geophysics through a new endowment of $1 million.

Personals: James D. Yancey appointed senior geophysical advisor for ARCO Oil and Gas Co.'s exploration/research center in Dallas ... Seth I. Gutmans senior geophysicist and VP of marketing for Applied Geophysics Inc.... Les Hatton appointed managing director of Merlin Research ... Daniel S. Tudor new president of Chevron Geosciences ... Neal E. Wylie is chairman and CEO of newly merged Petrolane Inc./Norpac Exploration Services ... Gene Womack, president of Mountain Geophysical, elected chairman of the board of IAGC ... Jerry Lynn Manfrida among those lost at sea when the Global Marine Drilling ship on contract to ARCO, Glomar Java Sea, went down off the China coast in a typhoon ... Patrick J. Hooyman joined GECO Geophysical as VP/chief geophysicist ... Bruce A. Boyd, president of AMF Geo Space, and Donna Hogan, geophysicist with ARCO Exploration, were married October 20th in Houston ... Vicki Cowart, formerly with American Quasar Petroleum, joined ARCO as senior geophysicist ... Philip S. Schultz accepted a position with Nippon Schlumberger KK in Tokyo as seismic department head for reservoir modeling ... Neal P. Cramer elected president of Western Geophysical ... Manik Talwani, chief scientist of Gulf R&D's exploration division, was 1984 recipient of the George P. Woollard Award of the GSA ... Robert L. Geyer joined IHRDC in Boston as senior geophysics specialist ... Elizabeth A. E. Johnson, area geophysicist with Union Oil of California, elected president of the Association of Women Geoscientists. Membership: 19 538

1985
On May 25th, SEG's new Tulsa business office, the Geophysical Resource Center, was formally dedicated to the founders of the society; ribbon cutting was performed by the society's most honored member, Cecil H. Green. The 50th Anniversary issue of Geophysics appeared in December at a whopping 706 pages! The November issue (almost as huge at 674 pages) included reprints of selected papers published during the past 25 years. SEG's first convention in Washington, D.C. attracted 9107 registrants and featured a Governmental Affairs Session on Monday morning with a panel of political and economic experts on energy from the Washington area. SEG's Research Committee sponsored a workshop on Seismic Field Techniques in August. New department in both TLE and Geophysics: International Scientific Advances, George J. Palacky, associate editor. The first Gulf Coast Exploration and Development Meeting was held in Houston; Sections participating include Houston, New Orleans, Corpus Christi, Lafayette, and Jackson Geophysical Societies; 407 registered. The Safety Committee disbanded after transferring its activities to the IAGC Safety Committee. San Antonio Geophysical Society hosted the 38th Annual Midwest Meeting in March; 1153 attended. Canadian SEG published the book it commissioned: History of Exploration Geophysics in Canada. The China Petroleum Society and SEG held the 1st Biennial Joint Meeting in Beijing in April; Cochairmen were SEG President A.M. (Red) Olander and CPS president Hou Xiangling. SEG's new film, "Seeing the Unseen: Geophysics and the Search for Energy and Minerals," was completed. An Editorial Board was appointed for TLE with T. R. LaFehr as chairman. New student sections chartered at the University of Waterloo in Canada and Macquarie University in Australia. Coastal Bend Geophysical Society reactivated in Corpus Christi after 10 years. SEG/SIAM/SPE conference on Mathematical and Computational Methods in Seismic Exploration and Reservoir Modeling was held in Houston. New SEG award: Distinguished Achievement Award for Companies or Institutions. New SEG publications: Supplementary group of programs for the Manual of Geophysical Hand Calculator Programs; Reprint Series No. 4, Migration of Seismic Data, compiled by G. H. F. Gardner; and Utility of Regional Gravity and Magnetic Anomaly Maps, William J. Hinze, editor. Registration at the 17th OTC jumped nearly ten fold over 1984 to 56 700; SEG's share of profits amounted to US$71 488.

Company Affairs: PT GECO established in Jakarta ... Hosking Geophysical opened new facilities in Lafayette, LA and in Sydney, Australia ... ARMA Geophysical acquired Geophysical Computing Corp. and Bighorn Geophysical ... TI received award from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services for giving job opportunities to the handicapped ... EDCON acquired Airborne Systems Inc. and opened a branch office in Calgary ... GECO successfully carried out first 3D seismic survey combining two boats and twin streamer operations in the North Sea for Conoco ... Merlin Profilers consolidated UK interests following sale of its Norwegian interests to GECO A/S ... Chevron merged Gulf Corp.'s petroleum exploration and research groups with those of Chevron Oil Field Research ... USGS and British Institute of Oceanographic Sciences signed an agreement to explore 150 000 sqare miles of deepwater in the Gulf of Mexico using the GLORIA system ... John E. Chance & Associates purchased Lorac Service Corp., a subsidiary of SSC ... Wimpol opened a U.S. office in Lafayette.

Personals: Stanley B. Jones, formerly with Chevron in La Habra, joined SEG in Tulsa as associate director/Technical Services ... J. Ken Morrison opened a consulting firm in Calgary ... Brian Dent joined Digicon Geophysical as senior research geophysicist with ARAMCO special projects group in England ... Stanley H. Frost and Bruce E.Bowen were named VPs of Everest Geotech ... Don Steeples is new associate director for research at the Kansas Geological Survey ... Ben K. Sternberg joined Phoenix Geophysics Inc. in Denver ... Bijan J. Rafipour now research geophysicist in Union Oil's science/technology division ... Gerard J. Tango now a research geophysicist on the staff of NORDA ... H. L. (Bud) Grant named president/CEO of Seiscom Delta ... James A. Holliday now geophysical manager of Esso Exploration's Latin America division ... J. W. Grimes promoted to VP at AMF Geo Space ... Marc T. Pottorf joined El Paso Exploration Co. as senior geophysicist ... James C. Hasbrouck transferred to CGG's seismic data processing center in Denver ... Tad Bostick named operations supervisor for Downhole Seismic Services, Houston ... Michael Teague named president of AMF Logic Sciences ... Thomas E. Ewing new president and Linda Anne Son Ewing is secretary treasurer of Frontera Exploration Services in San Antonio ... Richard E. Schneider has taken early retirement from Conoco after 30 years and opened a consulting firm, Triple S, in Oklahoma City ... August Law joined Oxy Cities Service Oil & Gas as a research associate in Tulsa ... Nader C. Dutta joined ARCO Resources Technology in Plano ... Virgil Kauffman, former president of Aero Service Corp., died in April; he established SEG's Kauffman Gold Medal in 1965 with the first award presented in 1966 ... S. Reddy Ravula appointed president of Alpha Geo Inc ... Harold O. Seigel awarded the J. Tuzo Wilson Medal by the Canadian Geophysical Union Roy O. Lindseth appointed to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada ... Aldo J. Vesnaver joined Osservatorio Geofisico Sperimentale in Trieste, Italy ... Bill G. Baugh new manager of SSC's operations in the Western Hemisphere. Membership: 19 559

1986
February TLE was a special issue on the State of the Industry and September a special issue on Computers and Geophysics. 3rd Annual SEG summer research workshop on Near Surface Effects held July 7-11 in Hyannis, Cape Cod with M. Schoenberger serving as chairman. 95 attended the SEG/EAEG Joint Research workshop on Deconvolution and Inversion held September 3-5 in Rome. 2nd Annual Gulf Coast Meeting moved to New Orleans on April 20-22 with 700+ registering. Two new volumes in the SEG Reprint series appeared in 1986: no. 5, Magnetotelluric Methods, compiled by Keeva Vozoff; and no. 6, Coal Geophysics, D. J. Buchanan and L. J. Jackson, editors; other new publications include Remote Sensing, Ken Watson and Robert D. Regan, editors, and Seismic Traveltime Inversion by S.V. Golden. "Geophysical Activity Report for 1986" (published in August 1987 TLE) showed that worldwide expenditures on geophysical exploration were down 37% from 1985 (which, in turn, were down 12.9% from 1984), continuing the decline of the past five years. SEG's Museum Committee issued a "call for photographs" from early days of geophysics to add to the collection of memorabilia on permanent display in the Geophysical Research Center (GRC) Museum at Tulsa headquarters. Authors of technical papers in Geophysics now given opportunity to contribute voluntary page charges. Of the 48 Gold Certificates awarded SEG members in 1986, 20 are members of the Dallas Geophysical Society. 14 of that DGS group spent all or part of their careers with GSI. Attendance at SEG's 56th Annual Meeting in Houston was down from the previous year to 8722 registrants and 238 exhibits. The Society held a 1/2 day joint session with SPE during their October convention and a reciprocal one day workshop was held at SEG's Annual Meeting in November; SPWLA provided a session on well logging papers of general geophysical interest to SEG and a reciprocal session is planned at SPWLA's 1987 meeting. 673 attended the Midwest Meeting in Tulsa. SEG's budget for fiscal 1986 was cut 20% and the staff reduced by 16%. Shell Foundation donated US$100 000 to provide a core collection of books and journals for the new SEG Library established at headquarters. Ceremonies were held in October to honor naming the GRC building (SEG headquarters in Tulsa) the "Cecil and Ida Green Tower." Distinguished Lecturers for 1986 were Fred J. Hilterman in the spring and Norman S. Neidell in the fall. International Affairs Committee assisted in organization of two geophysical meetings in China with Roy O. Lindseth serving as SEG leader of delegations to both meetings. 5th Biennial Joint SEG/U.S. Navy symposium was held on High Resolution Geophysics. Women in Geophysics Committee disbanded. Subscription rates to TLE and Geophysics were increased to nonmembers. SEG rejoined the U.S. National Committee on Rock Mechanics. "Rental courses" were added to the SEG Continuing Education Program. The 1986 Cumulative Index of Geophysics and Geophysical Prospecting also contains selected papers from The Leading Edge. The Student Paper Competition became a regular part of the Technical Program at SEG Annual Meetings. OTC attendance in 1986: 27 681 (40,000 expected). W. Harry Mayne was awarded OTC's Distinguished Achievement Award for Individuals for invention and development of the CMP (CRP) method. 97 students received scholarships totaling US$111 600. New Section: Amarillo Geophysical Society. Special issues in Geophysics: Engineering and Groundwater (February), P.R.Romig, editor; and Geophysics in Archaeology (March), J. C. Wynn, editor.

Companies/Universities/Organizations: Distinguished Achievement Award created for a company, institution, or other organization; 1986 Award to GSI/Texas Instruments ... Hosking Geophysics Corp. of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan purchased Hall Geophysics, Houston Scintrex acquired Urtec from Geosurvey International and moved the operation to Scintrex's head office near Toronto ... Geo Seismic Services Inc. acquired Globe Exploration S.p.A., a leading European geophysical services company ... Shell Foundation awarded $7,500 to Montana Tech's geophysics curriculum ... Conoco donated $10 000 to the Milton B. Dobrin Geophysical Library at the Allied Geophysical Labs, University of Houston ... Prakla-Seismos AG named its largest seismic survey vessel for founder Prof. Ludger Mintrop ... LaCoste & Romberg purchased by John D. Fett ... Atlas Copco ABEM of Sweden opened a new office in Austin ... Schlumberger purchased 50% of GECO ... Texas Instruments donated $772 500 to the new center for artificial intelligence in exploration at Colorado School of Mines ... Seiscom Delta United petitioned for Chapter ll. reorganization ... O'Connor/CiSi International joint venture renamed O.C. International Inc.Spectrum Geophysical Services formed by merger of Velpro Ltd. and Griffiths Geophysical Ltd.... Digital Equipment Corp. donated $2 million to Boston Museum of Science ... AMF's Logic Science Div. purchased by investors from the geophysical and general graphics industries, including some company officers.

Personals: John T. Kuo is first recipient of the Ewing/Worzel professorship at Columbia University ... Pierre Benichou named CEO of CGG American Services in Houston ... Bill G. Baugh elected president of SSC ... John C. Robinson joined the physics department at the University of Tulsa ... Carl H. Savit appointed to a two-year term on the OCS Policy Committee of the OCS Advisory Board ... Chris Tonish joined Advance Geophysical Corp. as manager of marketing ... Dale H. Reed elected to take early retirement after 32 years with ARCO Exploration and Technology ... George E. Parker named president of Teledyne Exploration ... L. C. (Lee) Lawyer appointed chief geophysicist of Chevron Corp.... George R. Jones now general manager of Downhole Seismic Service, a subsidiary of Western Geophysical ... Wulf Mussell is now a visiting professor at the Federal University of Bahia (PPPG UFBa) in Brazil ... H. L. (Bud) Grant named president of Grant Norpac ... Dave K. Agarwal appointed chief geophysicist for Newmont Oil in Houston ... Joel S. Watkins named first Earl F. Cook professor in geosciences at Texas A&M University ... Richard E. Esterling retired from ARCO Exploration in Denver and joined Britoil plc as senior geophysicist in Glasgow ... Frank Levin retired from Exxon Production Research after 37 years with Exxon and its predecessors William R. Sill appointed chairman of the department of physics/geophysical engineering at Montana Tech ... Ben B. Thigpen, VP of instrumentation and field services for Western Geophysical, retired after 36 years ... Raymond C. Farrell joined the Sierra Geophysics research staff in Seattle ... Ramesh P. Singh joined the faculty of the Indian Institute of Technology, Khanpur ... E. B. Claunch returned to the U.S. after five years in Jakarta as chief geophysicist for HudBay Oil (Malacca Strait) ... Koya Suto joined CRA Exploration Pty Ltd in Melbourne ... Dallas City Council named the city's downtown central library in honor of former mayor Erik Jonsson (this year a recipient of an SEG 50 year Gold Certificate) ... SEG President Marvin R. Hewitt retired from Amoco Production ... Rama S. Chavali joined Lockheed Missiles and Space Co. as a research specialist ... L. Richard Flury named VP of exploration, Africa/Middle East by Amoco Production ... J. Peter Johnson is new manager of Texaco's Bellaire geophysical center Joseph DeLerno named president/COO of Offshore Navigation Ind.... Hugh W. Hardy, former SEG secretary treasurer, opened an office as an exploration consultant in Houston. Membership: 18 189; Student Members: 1197

1987
Worldwide expenditures on geophysical exploration were down 23.3% from 1986; petroleum exploration expenditures declined 24.7% while expenditures for petroleum development increased by 125.8% over 1986. University of Houston Geophysical Society has reactivated and elected a new faculty advisor, G.H.F. Gardner. Seismic Interpretation series of articles in TLE began with Part 1 in the March issue: "Seismic interpretation in salt controlled basins" by James Fox; a series on Basic Seismology started in July with "The wave equation" by Enders Robinson and Dean Clark; a third series, Geotechnical Applications, started in August with "Hazardous waste geophysics," by A.R. Foster, M.D. Veatch, and S.L. Baird. SEG's 4th Annual Summer Research workshop on Interpretation of Reflection Seismic Data was held in Austin. A joint meeting of SEG and the China Petroleum Society was held near Beijing with President R. J. Graebner leading SEG's delegation which presented 16 technical papers. Geophysical artifacts requested for the new museum at headquarters building in Tulsa. Executive committee approved mandatory page charges for nonmember authors. Geophysical Society of Oklahoma City offered another excellent continuing education seminar that netted US$2500 (plus US$1500 from other sources) for SEG's scholarship program. August TLE issue featured an article on the backbone of the society: volunteers from various committees who work at HQ; included were photos and information about J.Lamar Worzel and Allyn Vine of the Museum Committee, Whitey Morris of the Geophysical Activity Committee, etc. Francis Campbell died before a profile in September TLE appeared; after retiring from geophysics, he was elected auditor of the city of Tulsa and reelected eight times. The executive committee approved Biennial Joint Workshops with EAEG beginning in 1988. The SEG Foundation was restructured into a "not for profit" corporation with a modern charter and format in which operations are highly visible to membership; endowment campaign reached US $3 611 578 toward a goal of US$12.3 million . New Student sections at Georgia Tech and Memorial University of Newfoundland. New publications in 1987: A Practical Guide to Borehole Geophysics, by James A. Labo; Shear Wave Exploration, S. Danbom and S. N. Domenico, editors; Seismic Data Processing, Oz Yilmaz; and the Geopressure reprint edited by N. Dutta. Registration exceeded 7500 at the 57th Annual Meeting in New Orleans; 241 companies exhibited in 791 booths; poster sessions scheduled again and authors competed for the first Outstanding Poster Presentation Award. Distinguished lecturers: Spring, Albert W. Bally, Rice University; and J. Pat Lindsey, GeoQuest International in the fall.

Company Affairs: Landmark Graphics Corp. established a US$1 million/year University Partnership Program to provide computer aided exploration (CAEX) systems to institutions with geoscience departments ... SSC and Welex signed agreement to market jointly VSP and full wave sonic services/interpretation ... Houtex Seismic Inc. acquired Professional Geophysics Inc., making them one of the largest seismic data processing contractors in the world ... GEO Seismic Services Inc. acquired all assets including proprietary data base of StratSeis Inc.... Intera Technologies of Austin acquired Exploration Consultants Ltd., London ... OYO Corp USA acquired substantial assets of AMF Geo Space Corp ... Grant-Norpac and Seiscom Delta United now operating as one company, a full service geophysical contracting firm ... After two long years, the Seismograph Service Ltd. staff moved back into elegant Holwood House, company headquarters near London that suffered severe damage from fire ... Litton Industries Inc. and Dresser Industries Inc. formed new 50/50 firm: Western Atlas International established in Houston by Litton's Resources Group and Dresser's Atlas division with Howard Dingman as President/CEO ... Interpretation Consultants Inc. (ICI) is new firm made up of former Exxon employees who offer petroleum exploration/production expertise ... Recently formed CogniSeis Development acquired Computer Systems Div. of Digicon Inc.... Don B. Sheffield, president/CEO of Geosource Inc., reelected chairman of the board of IAGC ... Fairfield Industries Inc. and Golden Geophysical agreed to merge, with Golden operating as a division ... Geotech Ltd. acquired name and assets of McPhar Geophysics ... GeoQuest International merged with Richardson Seismic Services Inc.... Intergraph Corp. acquired Advanced Processor Div. of Fairchild Semiconductor Corp.

Personals: Michael A. Ballantyne promoted to senior geophysical advisor for Mobil Producing Texas and New Mexico Inc... Jorge D. Giordano joined Dresser Atlas Argentina ... W. L.(Bill) Field under contract with TGS Onshore ... Alan W. Trorey retired from Chevron after 32 years and plans an "unstructured existence in Carmel, CA" ... Former SEG President Kevin Barry received an Alumni Award of Merit from St. Louis University ... Jack E. Oliver, professor at Cornell University, elected president of GSA for 1988 ... Elmer Eisner retired from Texaco after 35 years and will explore life after Texaco, in particular stringed instrument design ... Jeffrey D. Rowe, geophysicist with CGG in France, transferred to Geoterrex Ltd. in Ottawa ... Alison Shapiro joined Western Geophysical ... William Frank named research associate of Rensselaer Center of Applied Geology, affiliated with Brooklyn College of City University of New York ... Remi Leflaive appointed senior consulting geophysicist for Total E&P in Paris ... P. D. (Denny) O'Brien appointed VP/general manager of Green Mountain Geophysics Inc.... Robert R. Unterberger retired after 18 years as professor of geophysics at Texas A&M University ... E. W. (Ted) Jones appointed President of Chevron Oil Field Research in La Habra ... Walter H. Fertl appointed executive VP of Dresser Atlas ... T. R. LaFehr appointed president of LaFehr and Chan Technologies Inc. (LCT) ... Jens R. Halverson now senior consulting geophysicist with Seismic Interpretation Inc., Amarillo ... Ben J. Derkink joined Western Data Systems GmbH as executive VP in Munich ... Albert P. Crary Professorship of Geophysics established at University of Wisconsin in honor of outstanding pioneer in polar geophysics and glaciology; Dr. Crary now retired and living in Bethesda, MD ... Neal Goins named manager of planning/technology evaluation for Mobil R&D in Princeton, N.J ... Jisoo V. Ryu promoted to senior research associate at Chevron Oil Field Research, Geophysics Div., La Habra ... J. C. (Jim) Dooley named a Member of the Order of Australia for services to geophysics ... Thomas L. Dobecki joined LCT as VP ... Edwin B. Neitzel retired from ARCO ... John W. Peirce, member of TLE's Editorial Board, took a leave of absence from Petro Canada to serve as cochief scientist for Leg 121 of the Ocean Drilling Program on a cruise aboard D/V Joides Resolution in the Indian Ocean ... inventive genius Sam P. Worden of gravimeter fame died April 9 in Houston ... Bijan J. Rafipour promoted to senior research geophysicist at Unocal's Science & Technology Division at Brea. Membership: 17 036; Student Members: 1000

1988
SEG's Development and Production Committee and the Los Alamos National Laboratories held a joint workshop on Interwell Seismic Surveying; 110 attended from 50 organizations. Papers were requested for two SEG proposed volumes on (1) environmental geophysics, Stan Ward, editor; and (2) seismic modeling of geologic structures, Stuart W. Fagin, editor. New publications in 1988: Digital Processing of Geophysical Data, Roy O. Lindseth; Geopressure, N. Dutta; Course notes 2, Introduction to Seismic Inversion Methods, Brian H. Russell; Reprint 9, Inversion of Geophysical Data, L. R. Lines, editor; Investigations in geophysics 2, Seismic Data Processing, O. Yilmaz; Electromagnetic Methods in Applied Geophysics, v. 1, Theory, M.N. Nabighian, editor; and Slide set 4, Tomographic Determination of Velocity, T.N. Bishop et al. SEG executive committee agreed to publish phone numbers in 1989 roster issue of The Leading Edge (May). Names of Society awards were changed as follows: "Outstanding presentation..." to "Best Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting;" "Outstanding papers..." to "Best Paper in Geophysics;" and "Outstanding OTC..." to "Best OTC Geophysical Paper" awards. 2nd Joint Research Workshop on "Reservoir Geophysics" held by SEG and EAEG in Dallas. New standards from Technical Standards Committee on (1) Digital seismic recorder specifications, (2) MT/EMAP data interchange, (3) Seismic subroutines, and (4) for Specifying marine seismic energy sources. An exchange of delegations of SEG with Czechoslovakia at the International Geophysical Symposium organized by Geofyzika Brno in Prague and SEG's 58th Annual Meeting in Anaheim; convention drew more than 6500 delegates from 47 countries in addition to the U.S. and Canada; Frank Levin received Maurice Ewing Award. SEG distinguished lecturers for 1988: Spring, Ken Larner of Western Geophysical; and Fall, Jamie Robertson, Arco Oil and Gas. SPE/SEG/AAPG established a joint ad hoc committee to organize sessions at each Society's conventions, demonstrating synergy of all three disciplines in oil field development. 66 students received scholarships totaling US$76 016 for the 1988 89 academic year. 134 geophysicists attended the SEG/AGU joint Chapman Conference on Seismic Anisotropy in the Earth's Crust at the Lawrence Berkeley Lab in May. SEG and the China Petroleum Society held a joint meeting in September in Daqing, PRC on Seismic Methods Applied to Oil Field Development and Production. New Intersocietal Committee is made up of presidents elect and one additional member each from AAPG, SPE, SPWLA, and SEG. Executive committee approved proposed agreement of technical cooperation between SEG and Society of Petroleum Geophysicists of the Chinese Petroleum Society; and agreed to cosponsor a national symposium on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in Denver in September. 4th Gulf Coast Annual Meeting in New Orleans attracted 391 registrants and the 41st Annual Midwest Meeting and Exposition held in Oklahoma City drew 523. Sales of SEG publications more than doubled in 1988 to US$477 476 compared with US$214 183 in 1987. Some 636 from 20 countries attended the ASEG/SEG '88 meeting, "Leave Nothing Unattended" in Adelaide. SEG member attendance at the OTC was up and SEG's share of profits increased to US$35 000 from US$18 000 in 1987; four geophysical sessions were offered plus a special panel discussion, "Seismic imaging of salt".

Companies/Academia: Halliburton purchased 60% of GSI from Texas Instruments with a possibility of 100% ownership in a few years ... Grant Norpac acquired Seiscom Delta ... Horizon Seismic Australia (HSA) and Hosking Geophysical Australia merged operations with HSA acquiring Hoskings' assets and majority of staff ... After much worry by the Geosat Committee, the U.S. Dept. of Commerce and Earth Observation Satellite Co. (EOSAT) agreed to continue the Landsat program into the 1990s ... Amoco donated 200 seismic group recorders to the Stanford University Geophysics Research Project Joint seismic exploration survey made by Statoil/Norsk Hydro/GECO in Barents Sea/Bear Island West area ... CogniSeis Development Inc. (formerly Computer Systems Div. of Digicon Geophysical) announced record profits during first year as an independent, privately held company ... Roberts Group (gravity/magnetic exploration) acquired Rebbek Hunter Ltd. (leading European firm for gravity/magnetics) ... Conoco donated electrical methods equipment to University of Arizona ... Swedish Geological Co. acquired all ABEM shares of Atlas Copco group .

Personals: Thomas R. Rafter retired from AGU after five years; he was formerly long time publications director at AGI ... Philip S. Schultz appointed manager of research/engineering for GECO UK Ltd. after serving as seismic department head of Schlumberger's reservoir modeling group in Tokyo ... Enders Robinson and Jon Claerbout elected to prestigious National Academy of Engineering ... Former SEG President Lewis L. Nettleton died at the age of 91 in Houston ... Bob A. Hardage, formerly of Phillips Petroleum, joined Western Atlas International in Houston as general manager of Downhole Seismic Services (DSS) ... Sergio Chavez Perez appointed research geophysicist with CIS (Center for Seismic Research) in Mexico City ... Daryl E. Birnie joined Mark Resources Inc./Precambrian Shield Research Ltd. in Calgary as president/CEO ... About 60 students, colleagues, and spouses attended a symposium at the University of California, Berkeley, "25 Years of Induction and Deduction," in honor of Stan H. Ward on the eve of his retirement from teaching at the University of Utah ... Harish C. Joshi promoted to staff geophysicist for Sirte Oil Co. in Tripoli ... Elizabeth A. E. Johnson received a Distinguished Service Award from the Association for Women Geoscientists ... Harold O. Seigel, president of Scintrex Ltd., received the A. O. Dufresne Award from the Canadian Institute for Mining and Metallurgy ... Dennis R. Mett retired as chief geophysicist for Unocal International Division ... Scott McKay and Alfonso Gonzales joined Western Geophysical as senior research geophysicists ... Alistair R. Brown is now a consulting reservoir geophysicist in Dallas ... Khaled A. Bagdadi resigned as assistant professor of geophysics at King Saud University and established a consulting firm in Seattle ... Gene Womack appointed manager of Geosource's Denver service center ... Steven M. Tobias joined BHP Petroleum as senior geophysicist ... Vicki Cowart, manager of seismic product development for Schlumberger Well Services in Denver, named Young Alumnus of the Year by Colorado School of Mines' Alumni Association ... George A. McMechan named Ida Green Professor of Geosciences at University of Texas at Dallas. Membership: 15 659 ; Student Members: 794

1989
The SEG Foundation was newly incorporated and reorganized; Trustee Associates established at US$5000 per contribution The Cumulative Index is now available to members for US$5 plus handling fee. Committees renamed: Public Relations (formerly public affairs) and Public Affairs (formerly governmental affairs). New committee: Fund Raising (Dick Baile, Chairman). Executive committee authorized production of videotape of Oz Yilmaz's best seller, Seismic Data Processing; also, selected annual meeting papers. Life Membership dues are now 10 times annual rate after five years of membership. New "Enterprise Award" for individuals established with Roy Lindseth as first recipient. An exposition was held during the SEG/UCEG meeting in Beijing this year; dates were changed from June to August because of "unrest" in the country. Subscriptions for Geophysics raised from US$160 to US$175. Utah Geophysical Society is now inactive; also the North American Gravity Anomaly Map Committee. The SAGEEP meeting (Symposium on Application of Geophysics in Engineering and Environmental Problems) received support (nonfinancial) from SEG. CSEG Journal will be included in the next Cumulative Index. Continuing Education course fees reduced 36% (without reducing speakers' fees) and even more for unemployed members; 43 courses now offered. Certain SEG publications donated to the Hungarian Geophysical Society. Registration fees at annual meetings reduced for Emeritus and/or unemployed members. New in TLE and Geophysics: Editor's feature, "This month in Geophysics". The 59th Annual Meeting held in Dallas drew the largest number of attendees in four years: 7909; 288 companies exhibited in 915 booths; 402 papers presented; Bob Graebner served as general chairman; theme: "Value of Geophysics in Exploration and Production." Computer Applications Committee sponsored one day symposium on the "Future of Desktop Computers" at the Midwest Meeting in Denver. Distinguished Lecturers in 1989: Spring, John W. C. Sherwood and Fall, Bill French. 63 scholarships totaling US$70 800 awarded for the 1989 90 term. 775 attended the 5th Gulf Coast Meeting in Houston; exhibitors had 42 booths. Status of the SEG Library at headquarters was changed from "working library" to "archival library" and automatic renewal of journal subscriptions discontinued. 42nd Midwest meeting held in Denver with 41 exhibitors' booths. Volume 1 of Electromagnetics has sold 1000+ copies to date, making it SEG's 2nd place best seller. Slide Set series expanded from 5 to 18. Special volume published: An Overview of Exploration in China 1988; also, Geophysics Reprints 10 Seismic and Acoustic Velocities in Reservoir Rocks, Vol. 1: Experimental Studies, edited by A. Nur and Z. Wang and 11 Vibroseis, edited by Robert L. Geyer; Geophysical Monograph 4 Analysis of Least Squares Velocity Inversion by F. Santosa and W. W. Symes; Harry Mayne's 50 Years of Geophysical Ideas; Seismic Interpretation Series, Vol. 1 (reprinted articles from TLE) and Video Tape Series 1-5 of papers presented in 1988 at Anaheim. Offshore Exploration and Oceanography Committee proposed a book on "case histories (field studies) on offshore Gulf of Mexico fields." Tennessee is the 15th state with registration laws affecting geophysicists. Summer Research Workshop in August covered "Recording and processing vector field data." SEG's proceeds from the 1989 OTC: us$58 671. New European Association of Petroleum Geoscientists held its 1st convention with EAEG in Berlin. For the first time, an SEG delegation of 11 attended the 33rd International Geophysical Symposium in Prague in 1989.

Companies/Universities/Organizations: Seismograph Service donated US$120 000 in Phoenix proprietary geophysical software to University of Oklahoma ... GeoQuest Systems opened a new office in Calgary ... Haselton 3D ApS (Danish geophysical consulting firm) and Petrobaltic (consortium of Poland, East Germany, and USSR) signed marketing agreement for seismic and well data from the Baltic Sea ... Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists changed name officially to SEPM ... Amoco Pakistan Exploration signed agreement with Oil and Gas Development for two exploration licenses onshore ... Professional Geophysics Inc signed agreements with officials in USSR and Bulgaria ... HGS began largest ever offshore survey in Namibian waters ... GeoQuest Systems and Digital Equipment signed contract worth US$12.6 million with China Natl Offshore Oil Co. and Chinese Ministry of Petroleum; Chinese Ministry of Petroleum also signed US$14.9 million contract with Applied Automation for seismic equipment ... Sierra Geophysics donated US$90 000 of licenses in software to Australia's Natl Centre for Petroleum Geology/Geophysics ... Landmark Graphics selected Stanford, Rice, Cambridge, CSM, and Univ of Calgary as recipients of one-year, US$1 million/year Univ Partnership Program grants ... Fairfield Technologies signed contracts with two PRC agencies: Ministry of Petroleum and Geophysical Co. of Bahai Oil Corp. Sonangol/Halliburton Geophysical Services extending seismic program offshore Angola ... Contract: Jebco Seismic Ltd and USSR Ministry of Geology ... Korea Petroleum Development Corp (PEDCO) awarded contract to ExploiTech, Houston, for offshore E&D field study.

Personals: J. E. (Ed) White inducted into National Academy of Engineering ... Cecil Green awarded the first foreign honorary membership by Chinese Geophysical Society ... Roy Lindseth awarded the Canadian SEG Medal ... Ken Larner and Dave Hale joined Norman Bleistein and J. Cohen as coleaders of the industry sponsored Center for Wave Phenomena research project at Colorado School of Mines ... Charles A. Brown joined Centerline Geophysics ... Vicki Cowart elected treasurer of the Assn for Women Geoscientists (she served as president, earlier) . . Ken Larner received the 1989 Conrad Schlumberger Award from EAEG ... Edward A. Flinn, 57, internationally known expert on earth sciences and chief of NASA's solid earth sciences program, died ; also world renowned M. King Hubbert ... Jerry Donalson joined GECO Geophysical ... Joe Saltamachia is new general manager for Western Atlas Intl operations in Europe, Africa, and MidEast ... Dolan McDaniel, president of GSI, resigned after 32 years ... Leonard S. Collett awarded the Canadian Geophysical Union's J. Tuzo Wilson Medal ... A. L. (Jerry) Warren, former president/CEO of Fairfield Industries named president/COO of Professional Geophysics Inc ... J. Frydecki joined Geoexplorers Intl and assigned to Port au Prince, Haiti ... Walter Fertl named president of Western Atlas Intl's Wireline Services Div . Javier Medina retired from Cia Geosource de Mexico after 33 years . . Jamie Robertson appointed VP, geoscience ops for ARCO Oil & Gas ... George deV. Klein awarded a senior Fulbright research fellowship at Amsterdam's Vrije Univ. Membership: 15 392; Student Members: 735