Ricardo Heras writes that the basic courses in his first two years at University College London were disappointing. He says, “Most of my lecturers followed traditional teaching approaches based heavily on solving standard problems and learning by rote, with no hint of free inquiry or discussion.”
My experience at the Colorado School of Mines in the early 1960s, where I worked for a degree in geophysics, was entirely different. I had all those basic courses, and frankly, I used them to learn. My interest in seismology started in middle school in Los Angeles because of the regular occurrence of earthquakes there. I devoured Elementary Seismology (1958) by Charles Richter. While in high school, I visited the seismological laboratory at Caltech several times. I was greeted cordially, and my questions were always answered.
In my first year at the School of Mines, I discovered an earthquake swarm in the Denver area.1 Its origin was under contention, with the consensus view being that the earthquakes were spread over a 30-mile range and an alternative view being that they were the result of saltwater injection into a deep disposal well.
I took it as a research opportunity. The School of Mines was and is a small institution, with great freedom of inquiry and action. I located the pumping records for the well and then correlated that information with the energy released by the earthquakes. I found that with several weeks’ delay, the energy released was proportional to the volume of liquid injected. Meanwhile, the US Geological Survey had installed seismometers close to the well, and the information from them seemed to confirm that the earthquakes were attributable to the pumping.
I caught up with a geology professor at a coffee shop and quizzed him about the Denver geology. At first he was reluctant, thinking I was a grad student trying to shortcut my research. After I explained my position and my interest, I spent 45 minutes trying to absorb the flood of information he provided.
My work led to the actual seismograms for the earthquakes. That, in turn, led to the discovery that a second earthquake event in these particular records had come almost immediately after the first. When the second event was removed, the earthquake locations all resolved around the well.
I used the materials taught in the early classes, including equations I learned in physics lab, the Fortran programming class I was taking, and other materials. So I found the basic classes not disappointing but rather a toolshed to dig out answers from conflicting data. With an open mind, an open campus, and a hunch, I was able to move from “I believe” to “from these data I conclude.” I presented my data, and soon the institution came to agree.
