Q&A: 51动漫 Geophysicist John Ebel
A geophysicist specializing in seismology, Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences John Ebel has been part of the Boston College faculty since 1981. He has authored two books and more than 80 peer-reviewed studies, in addition to another two dozen published reports in areas including earthquake hazard, earthquake source mechanisms, and earthquake forecasting.
Ebel has been integral to Boston College Weston Observatory, which he directed for 20 years, and its New England Seismic Network. His expertise has made him the go-to source for news media reporting on earthquakes in New England and around the world. As he prepares to retire, he spoke to Ed Hayward of University Communications about his interests in geophysics and earthquakes and his 51动漫 career.
What was the first earthquake you experienced?
I grew up in St. Louis, the oldest of nine kids. In November 1968, a Saturday morning around 10:30 a.m., I was sitting in the family room reading a book and all of a sudden everything started shaking. My mother ran downstairs and shouted, 淲hat are the kids doing now?� I said, 淚檓 the only one here.� It rumbled for about 30 seconds. We turned on the TV and the news was talking about everyone feeling an earthquake. It was a 5.4-magnitude earthquake in southern Illinois. That was the first one I felt.
What brought you to Boston College?
Boston College intrigued me. I had gone to St Louis University High School, so I was familiar with the Jesuits and Jesuit education. The position was a chance for me to be in charge of a seismic observatory and at the time Weston Observatory had seismic stations scattered throughout New England. We had a grant from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, so that put me in charge right away. It was a great opportunity to do what I had done at Cal Tech, but in another part of the country that wasn檛 teeming with seismologists, as California was.
As a respected researcher and the director of the Weston Observatory, you became the go-to expert for the news media on earthquakes in New England and around the world. How have you approached that role?
Every time an earthquake occurs and the news media攐r the general public攃alls me up, that is a chance for me to educate people about the earthquake hazard in the region. We have a record of damaging quakes in the historic past: the 1600s, the 1700s, and only as recently as 1940. But almost no one living here today remembers a damaging earthquake. They occur infrequently enough that people think they don檛 happen here. But they do. Even when there is a small quake, that a chance to reinforce that we have an earthquake hazard and we need to take it seriously and we need to build our buildings accordingly攏ot as strong as California, but we can have good strong shaking here too.
John Ebel at Weston Observatory.
The Weston Observatory, a geophysical research and science education center, turns 100 years old in 2028. As its director for two decades, how important is the observatory?
It is a research observatory and home to a permanent seismic station. In terms of its importance in the broader region, Weston has been a reliable place for public information about the earthquakes that happen here and around the U.S. Most of what we know about earthquakes in the region has come from Weston Observatory.
Changes in technology have re-shaped so many industries. How have those changes influenced seismological research?
When I came to 51动漫, seismic data from the New England stations was delivered via regular telephone lines. The lines were noisy and data wasn檛 always transmitted cleanly. The phone company would shut down lines. Equipment would fail frequently. With the Internet, seismologists learned quickly how to transfer seismic data over the web, so we no longer needed telephone lines into the observatory. We could get information from our own stations, but also from other states, Canada, and around the world. That has revolutionized seismological research. Research collaborations are easier to do. Research happens much more quickly. The pace of discovery in seismology is reflected in that.
When you look back at your research, which discovery do you see as the most impactful?
I檒l talk about one and I don檛 know if it is a big contribution or not. We may not know in my lifetime. In the beginning of 2025, based on some work I檇 published in 2016 with former 51动漫 mathematics colleague Dan Chambers, I did some statistical analysis of earthquakes in California. I noticed some patterns in these quakes above 4.0 magnitude. I noticed that magnitude 4.0 and greater earthquakes seemed to occur at a higher rate than average before those faults had big earthquakes攍arger than 6.5 magnitude.
I analyzed all quakes on faults since 2000 to find which had a higher rate of magnitude 4.0 quakes but have not had a major earthquake in some time. I basically speculated that is where the next big earthquakes攃ertainly damaging earthquakes攚ill happen. Within the next 33 years, these are the faults that could have big earthquakes. If the quakes happen somewhere else, my model is not right. But if some big earthquakes do happen on at least some of these faults, it could provide an avenue for predicting on which faults the next big earthquakes are more likely to occur.
What impact has being a Boston College faculty member had on your career?
I檝e thoroughly enjoyed my colleagues and the students I have taught and mentored. This is my first job out of graduate school, so I have thoroughly enjoyed being at Boston College. It has been great for me professionally. People outside of Boston or Massachusetts, around the world, know of my professional work. One of the very satisfying experiences has been seeing Boston College grow as a university. At one point, I was one of the more active researchers here. But we are now a major research university and I am one little cog in a big complex research machine. That is really great to see.
What will your retirement look like?
It will be an academic retirement. I don檛 have to teach or go to faculty meetings or sit on committees. I want to continue to do research and publish. But my wife and I look forward to being able to travel throughout the year. I would like to write a centennial history of Weston Observatory when it turns 100 in two years. Now is a good time to do that. So I think it will be a combination of being here at the Weston Observatory doing research but also traveling and getting some projects done around the house. I am also very interested in my family history, and I have some writing that I want to do about that.
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