George W. Housner (December 9, 1910 in Saginaw, Michigan – November 10, 2008 in Pasadena, California) was a professor of earthquake engineering at the California Institute of Technology and National Medal of Science laureate.

Biography

Housner received his bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Michigan where he was influenced by Stephen Timoshenko. He earned his masters' (1934) and doctoral (1941) degrees from the California Institute of Technology where he had been a professor of earthquake engineering from 1945 to 1981, and professor emeritus thereafter. In 2000, he received an honorary Doctor of Science from the University of Southern California. Annually, in recognition of those who made extraordinary contributions to the earthquake safety research, practices and policies, EERI awards The George W. Housner Medal of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. On his death, Housner left a substantial gift to EERI "to advance the objectives of EERI". This gift has been used to train future earthquake engineering policy advocates and thought leaders through the EERI Housner Fellows Program, which has been active since 2011. Housner died of natural causes November 10, 2008 in Pasadena, California at the age of 97.

Partial list of achievements