11 Facts About Frank Press

Frank Press was an advisor to four US presidents, and later served two consecutive terms as president of the US National Academy of Sciences.

Frank Press was the author of 160 scientific papers and co-author of the textbooks Earth and Understanding Earth.

Originally trained as an oceanographer, Frank Press participated in research cruises on the sailing vessels RV Vema and RV Atlantis.

In 1957, Frank Press was recruited by Caltech to succeed founder Beno Gutenberg as director of the Seismological Laboratory, a position in which he remained until 1965.

Frank Press was closely involved in the construction of a lunar seismograph, first deployed by the Apollo 11 astronauts.

In 1965, Press moved to MIT as department head of Earth and Planetary Sciences, where, with significant support from philanthropist Cecil H Green, he revitalized what had been an overly traditional geology department by hiring new faculty members.

Frank Press remained at MIT until 1976, and during this time, his work included collaborations with Vladimir Keilis-Borok and Leon Knopoff on computer pattern matching techniques that could be applied to earthquake prediction.

In 1976, Frank Press became Science Advisor to President Jimmy Carter and director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Frank Press played a key role in the formation of the National Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People's Republic of China.

In 1996, Frank Press co-founded WAG, a global consulting company with clients that included approximately 50 leading universities.

Frank Press was the father of physicist William H Press.