Earthquake Expert Bruce Bolt Dies

UC Berkeley professor emeritus and prominent seismologist Bruce Bolt died last Thursday at Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Oakland from pancreatic cancer. He was 75.

Bolt was considered one of the nation's leading experts on earthquakes and seismology and was a crusader for public awareness and safety.

A native of New South Wales, Australia, Bolt traveled the world before coming to the United States in 1963 to lead the University of California Seismographic Station, now known as the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory. He held the position of director for 28 years.

Bolt joined the UC Berkeley Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1988, staying on board for 15 years before retiring to emeritus status in 1993 in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

Bolt was a pioneer in developing strong-motion sensors near earthquake faults and was one of the first people to recognize the importance of near-fault effects of earthquakes. Bolt also identified the epicenter of the legendary 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Lending his skills to state safety efforts, Bolt served on the California Seismic Safety Commission for 15 years and worked as its chairman in 1986. Over the past 30 years, Bolt lent his expertise to every major seismic project in the state, including most recently the BART tunnel beneath the San Francisco Bay.

Bolt was also part of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco for 30 years. He helped bring a popular exhibit to the academy's museum in 1998 that encouraged earthquake preparedness.

Bolt also consulted on international projects such as the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline and Egypt's Aswan Dam.

In addition to being recognized as a leading academic, Bolt was also a respected mentor and friend to his colleagues.

Bolt made a habit of working closely with his peers, both engineers in the field and students on campus. As president of the faculty club for 10 years, he could often be found having lunch there where people would drop by to see him.

Associate professor of Earth and Planetary Science Douglas Dreger lauded Bolt's kindness toward his colleagues.

"He personally he went out of his way to be there for me as I was getting situated at Berkeley," Dreger said. "I'll remember that for the rest of my life."

Bolt led a very active life that was not only limited to science. He often acted in and directed plays to raise money for students' scholarships and grants. He was also an avid sailor who often took his students and colleagues sailing on his boat.

Robert Urhammer, a research seismologist at the lab and former student of Bolt, said his mentor sometimes took him racing on the Bay.

"He was a very good man, very compassionate and interested about what we were doing at the lab," Urhammer said.

At the time of his death, Bolt had just returned from a trip sponsored by the California Academy of Sciences to the Galapagos Islands last June and was planning a trip to Portugal with Dreger to present their work together.

Bolt was scheduled to present a retrospective on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake in April 2006 for the 100th Anniversary Earthquake Conference in San Francisco.

He is survived by his wife, Beverley, daughters Gillian, Helen and Margaret, and his son, Robert.

A campus memorial will be held tomorrow at 3 p.m. in the Faculty Club.

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