Scripps Professor Wins Science Award

J. Freeman Gilbert, a professor of geophysics at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego, has been awarded the 1990 Balzan Prize for his scientific accomplishments, it was announced Friday.

Gilbert, 59, will receive about $230,000 from the International Balzan Foundation in Milano, Italy, and a commendation from the president of Italy at a ceremony Nov. 16 in Rome at Academia Lincei, the world’s oldest scientific society.

The Balzan Prize is awarded annually in areas ranging from literature and the arts to the physical and natural sciences.

Gilbert was recognized for his contributions to solid Earth geophysics, which have provided insight into the structure of the Earth’s interior, and for his leadership in establishing international networks of seismic instruments.

Gilbert, a professor at Scripps Institution since 1961, is chairman of the graduate studies department and served many years as associate director of UCSD’s branch of the University of California’s statewide Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics.

Gilbert is the second UCSD professor to receive the Balzan Award. Roger Revelle, a professor of science and public policy and director emeritus of Scripps Institution, received the award in 1986.