James (Jim) H. Knapp

I am a geoscientist. I received my formal training as a structural geologist and tectonicist (Stanford, B.S. with Distinction; M.I.T., Ph.D.) but have practiced most of my career as a geophysicist, specifically a reflection seismologist. Structural geologists study deformation (faults, folds, cracks, etc.) in rocks, and the processes that led to the deformation. Tectonicists study the large-scale processes that form and deform Earth's crust, including continental drift, mountain building, and the formation of ocean basins. Geophysicists apply principles of physics to remotely sense the interior of the Earth at different scales, since we cannot make direct observations. In the case of reflection seismology, we do to the Earth what physicians do to the human body when they image with Computed Tomography (CT) or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans; we produce 2-D, 3-D, and more recently 4-D images of various portions of the Earth using acoustic, or sound, energy. Such techniques, invented here in Oklahoma by Oklahomans more than a hundred years ago, have been the backbone of subsurface resource exploration ever since, and have revolutionized our understanding of Earth structure and evolution in recent decades.