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BACKUS, GEORGE

Research Professor of Geophysics, Emeritus

Degrees:

• B.S., University of Chicago
• M.S., University of Chicago
• Ph.D., University of Chicago

Research Interests:

• Relativity
• Core-mantle boundary phenomenon
• Core fluid mechanics
• Inversion of geomagnetic data

1955, On the application of eigenfunction expansions to the problem of the thermal instability of a fluid sphere heated within, Philosophical Mag., 46, 1310-1326

1956, On Cowlings theorem on the impossibility of self-maintained asixymmetric homogeneous dynamos, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 42, 105-109

1956, The external electric field of a rotating magnet, Astrophys. J., 123, 508-512

1957, The axisymmetric self-excited fluid dynamo, Astrophys. J., 125, 500-524

1957, The existence and uniqueness of the velocity correlation derivative in Chandrasekhars theory of turbulence, J. Math. Mech., 6, 215-234

1958, A class of self-sustaining dissipative spherical dynam, Ann. Phys., 4, 372-447

1960, Bemerkungen uber die adiabatische Invarianz des Bahnmomentes geladener Teilchen, Zeitschrift ur Naturforschung, 11, 1007-1009

1960, Linearized plasma oscillations in arbitrary electron velocity distributions, J. Math. Phys., 1, 178-191

1961, The rotational splitting of the free oscillations of the Earth, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 47, 362-371

1962, Long-wave elastic anisotropy produced by horizontal layering, J. Geophys. Res., 67, 4427-4440

1962, Observations of pulses on an interface, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 52, 847-888

1962, The effect of the Earths rotation on the propagation of ocean waves over long distances, Deep-Sea Res., 9, 185-197

1962, The propagation of short elastic surface waves on a slowly rotating Earth, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 52, 823-846

1964, Geographic interpretation of measurements of average phase velocities of surface waves over great circular and great semi-circular paths, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 54, 571-610

1964, Magnetic anomalies over ocean ridges, Nature, 201, 591-592

1965, The rotational splitting of the free oscillations of the Earth, 2, Rev. Geophys., 3, 1-9

1966, Note on product integrals, J. Math. Phys., 7, 1144

1966, Possible forms of seismic anisotropy of the uppermost mantle under oceans, J. Geophys. Res., 70, 3429-3439

1966, Potentials for tangent tensor fields on spheroids, Archive for Rational Mechanics and Analysis, 22, 210-252

1966, Propagator matrices in elastic wave and vibration problems, Geophysics, 31, 326-332

1966, Satellite elongation into a true "sky-hook", Science, 151, 682-683

1967, Converting vector and tensor equations to scalar equations in spherical coordinates, Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc., 13, 71-101

1967, Numerical applications of a formalism for geophysical inverse problems, Geophys. J.R. Astr. Soc, 13, 247-276

1968, A note on the potential flow past a lemniscate and a general method of Milne-Thomson, Q. J. Mech. Appl. Math., 26, 441-442

1968, Application of a non-linear boundary-value problem for LaPlaces equation to gravity and geomagnetic intensity surveys, J. Mech. Appl. Math., 21

1968, Approximate solutions to the inverse mode problem, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 58, 101-131

1968, Kinematics of secular variation in a perfectly conducting core, Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. London, A 263, 239-266

1968, The resolving power of gross Earth data, Geophys. J.R. Astr. Soc., 16, 169-205

1969, Constructing P-velocity models to fit restricted sets of travel time data, Bull. Seism. Soc. Am., 59, 1407-1414

1969, Critique of The Resonant Structure of the Solar System by A.M. Molchanov, Icarus, 11, 88-92

1970, A geometrical picture of anisotropic elastic tensors, Rev. Geophys. Space Phys., 8, 633-671

1970, Inference from inadequate and inaccurate data I, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 65, 1-8

1970, Inference from inadequate and inaccurate data II, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 65, 281-287

1970, Inference from inadequate and inaccurate data, III, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 67, 282-289

1970, Non-uniqueness of the external geomagnetic field determined by surface intensity measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 75, 6339-6341

1970, Uniqueness in the inversion of inaccurate gross Earth data, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London, A 266, 1173, 123-192

1974, Determination of the external geomagnetic field from intensity measurements, Geophys. Res. Lett., 1, p. 21

1975, Gross thermodynamics of heat engines in deep interior of Earth, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 72, 1555-1558

1976, Moment Tensors and Other Phenomenological Descriptions of Seismic Sources, I, Continuous Displacements, Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 46, 2, 341-361

1976, Moment Tensors and Other Phenomenological Descriptions of Seismic Sources, II, Discontinuous Displacements, Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 47, 2, 301-329

1977, Interpreting the seismic glut moments of total degree two or less, Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc., 51, 1-25

1977, Phenomenological Representation of Seismic Sources, Journal of Geophysics-Zeitschrift Fur Geophysik, 43, 1-2, 497-497

1977, Seismic sources with observable glut moments of spatial degree two, Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc., 51, 27-45

1979, An L-squared form of Bernsteins inequality, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 76, 3061-3064

1980, The topping algorithm for calculating extrema of polynomials on subsets of R to the nth power., J. Numer. Anal., 17, 479-511

1981, On the relative importance of the driving forces of plate motion, Geophys. J. R. Astron. Soc., 67, 415-435

1982, Harmonic splines for geomagnetic modelling, Phys. Earth Planet Inter., 28, 215-229

1982, Reply: Limits of validity of first-order perturbation theory for quasi-P velocity in weakly anisotropic media, journal of Geophysics Res., 87, B6, 4641-4644

1982, The electric field produced in the mantle by the dynamo in the core, Phys. Earth Planet Inter., 28, 191-214

1983, Application of mantle filter theory to the magnetic jerk of 1969, Gerphys. J. R. Astron. Soc., 74, 713-746

1985, Some Models of the Geomagnetic-Field in Western-Europe from 1960 to 1980, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 39, 4, 243-254

1985, Steady flows at the top of the core from geomagnetic field models: The steady motions theorem, Geophys. Astrophys. Fluid Dynamics, 32, 163-173

1986, Poloidal and toroidal fields in geomagnetic field modelling, Reviews of Geophysics, 24, 75-109

1986, The region on the core-mantle boundary where a geostrophic velocity field can be determined from frozen-flux magnetic data, Geophys. J.R. Astron. Soc., 85, 617-628

1987, Comparing the jerk with other global models of the geomagnetic field from 1960 to 1978, journal of Geophysics Res., 92, 3615-3622

1987, Isotropic Probability-Measures in Infinite-Dimensional Spaces, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 84, 24, 8755-8757

1988, Bayesian inference in geomatnetism, Geophysical Journal, 92, 125-142

1988, Comparing Hard and Soft Prior Bounds in Geophysical Inverse Problems, Geophysical Journal-Oxford, 94, 2, 249-261

1988, The Field Lines of an Axisymmetric Magnetic-Field, Geophysical Journal-Oxford, 93, 3, 413-417

1988, The Newtonian gravitational constant Ñ On the feasibility of an oceanic measurement, EOS, Trans. Amer. Geophys. Union, 69, 769, 779-780

1989, Confidence Set Inference with a Prior Quadratic Bound, Geophysical Journal-Oxford, 97, 1, 119-150

1989, Test of Newtons Inverse-Square Law in the Greenland Ice Cap, Physical Review Letters, 62, 9, 985-988

1991, Current meters in the core of the Earth, Scripps Institution of Oceanography Reference Series, 91, 97-119

1994, An estimate of magnetic correlation length at the core-mantle boundary from the Luecke-Mauersberger-Lowes spectrum, EOS, 75, Supplement, 84

1995, Geophysics - Dynamo Model at a Turning-Point, Nature, 377, 6546, 198-199

1996, Is the non-dipole magnetic field random?, Geophysical Journal International, 124, 1, 315-319

1996, On the difference between the average values of B-r(2) in the Atlantic and Pacific hemispheres., Geophysical Research Letters, 23, 15, 1965-1968

1996, Trimming and procrastination as geophysical inversion techniques, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 98, Backus Fest Issue, 101-142

1997, A six-parameter statistical model of the Earths magnetic field, Geophysical Journal International, 130, 3, 693-700