06.06.2014: Thorsten W. Becker of the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, is visiting GFZ between June and August 2014. Professor Becker has just received the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award of the Alexander von Humboldt-Foundation and he is being hosted by GFZ Section Geomechanics and Rheology. The Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award is granted in recognition of outstanding research achievements and enables highly-qualified scientists and scholars from abroad to spend extended periods of research in Germany.

Professor Becker is a geoscientist best known for research in geodynamics. Thorsten Becker has (co)authored 85 publications, focusing on the convection of the Earth’s mantle and its relations with dynamics of the lithosphere. Professor Becker integrates numerical studies with detailed geophysical and geological observations. During his visit at GFZ, he intends to investigate spatial and temporal patterns of seismicity in fault zones and laboratory experiments.