Peter Molnar

I studied Physics, like most aspiring geophysicists in the 60s, at Oberlin College, before going to Columbia to study seismology and then to Scripps Institute of Oceanography as a post-doc. Urged by John Sclater, Nafi Toksöz, and perhaps others, Frank Press offered me my first real job (albeit as a trailing partner), when the last thing the department at MIT needed was a fifth seismologist. The challenge, not to wallow at the forefront of research, but to teach, however, proved to be beyond me. Failing to approach the standards my teachers at Oberlin had set, I gave up trying to emulate them and in the mid-80s, I set off on a life of soft money. Finally, wanting to live in the mountains and also change the direction of my research to areas that offered no hope of NSF funding, I moved to the University of Colorado in 2001.

Enough. My history is less relevant than the history of my debts to MIT. Throughout my 27 years “at” MIT, my colleagues showed extraordinary faith in me, and listing a few examples seems appropriate.

With plate tectonics no longer in the forefront of the earth sciences when I arrived in 1974, the deformation of continents posed obvious big questions; but that required learning geology. First, Paul Tapponnier and then Clark Burchfiel thought that with a little help I could be a geologist. Perhaps they still hold out hope. With his inimitable form of encouragement, Clark (who, I must remind all of you, will always be 10 years older than I - between late March and late August) told me of an eminent physicist who switched to geology “because physics was too easy.” Fortunately, Zhang Pei-zhen (MIT PhD 1987), cognizant of my limitations, drew me back to China, where I had first pretended to be a geologist, all the while trying to show me the virtues of taking responsibility for mishaps, instead of blaming others.

Until the 80s, however, seismology continued to be my excuse to get into the field, thanks to Steve Roecker’s (MIT PhD 1981) willingness to go anywhere, citing Einstein as the source of all truths: “The field is the only reality.” Before I gave it, Steve Park (MIT PhD 1984), as TA, covered for me, while I “taught” Field Geophysics. Later, in the 90s, with the encouragement of Brad Hager and Tom Herring, I replaced seismographs with GPS instruments as my primary vehicle for getting into the field.

In the late 70s it became clear that continuum mechanics offered solutions to many questions. So, when the vast majority of us Earth and Planetary folk did not want to merge with the similarly minded Atmospheric group, Carl Wunsch’s statement that a failure to merge might spell death to geophysical fluid dynamics at MIT made me an instant convert. Imagine EAPS in the 21st Century without fluid mechanics.

Times were not always easy, and I owe a special debt to Bill and Peggy Brace for support, which included setting me up with 26 years, and counting, of romance and stability – my wife Sara Neustadtl.

In 1990, I realized that climate offered good problems for an out-of-date seismologist, and Ed Boyle, John Edmond, and Maureen Raymo patiently tried to educate me on elements of paleoclimate, well enough that even Dick Lindzen seemed to think I knew something he did not. Later, discouraged that climate was too hard for a seismology retread, Kerry Emanuel reprimanded me (politely of course): “What! Why not! No one else understands it?” Tom Jordan, as department head during this period, rescued me, by paying me, when according to my contract he should have fired me, saying only, “We’d like to see more of you.”

Without purposely embarrassing me, Brian Evans, Craig Jones (MIT PhD 1987), Dan Rothman, and Joann Stock (MIT BS & MS 1981, PhD 1988) have continually reminded me of how my father (AB in Physics, Oberlin, 1937; PhD MIT, 1940) did science. Meanwhile, Madge Slavin, Debbie Roecker, Jean Titilah, and Marie Sénat protected me from bureaucratic trauma.

Perhaps, none of my MIT friends has stood by me more faithfully than Tanya Atwater, always trying to help me find a way to survive without having to fit a sharp-edged square into a system’s inflexible curves. Plus, she assured that the virtues of all four of our parents would flourish in our son, Alyosha.

Finally, many others, too numerous to list in the space provided here and also now long gone from MIT, maintain a tight network of friendship and inspiration. In fact, if now after 7 years in Colorado, my ties should have become thin, in the past 5 years I have started work with six young scientists who earned their PhDs from MIT since 1999: atmospheric scientists, physical oceanographers, geomorphologists, and structural geologists. So, the recurring, repeatedly rewarding, struggle to find a niche continues.