Ivan Tolstoy (scientist)
Ivan Tolstoy was an American geophysicist and popular science writer. His research interests included seafloor geology and topography, seismology, ocean and atmospheric acoustics and seismic wave propagation.
Biography
Ivan Tolstoy was born to in Baden-Baden, Germany, to a Russian noble family of of Andre Tolstoy and Maria Shuvalova emigrated from Russia due to the October Revolution. He studied Sorbonne University, Paris, graduating in geology in 1945. In 1946 he moved to the United states and enrolled the Columbia University for graduate studies.. After receiving the Ph.D. degree he became research scientist at Columbia, later professor of geophysics at Florida State University and later vising professor at Leeds University.He is credited for the discovery of T phases in underwater seismology and for the mapping of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. He is the namesake of the Biot–Tolstoy–Medwin diffraction model used in acoustics.
Books
Science
- Ocean Acoustics, McGraw Hill, NY, 1967. also Russian transl., Akoustika Okeana Ed.Mir, Moscow, 1969
- *Rissuan translation: Акустика океана: теория и эксперимент в подводной акустикеАкустика океана: теория и эксперимент в подводной акустике, 1969
- *Ocean Acoustics, 2nd enlarged ed. Am. Inst.Phys., 1987
- Wave Propagation, McGraw Hill, NY, 1973
Popular science
- The Pulse of a Planet, New Am.Library, Signet, 1971
- James Clerk Maxwell, a biography, Canongate, 1981, U.Chicago Press, 1982
- The Knowledge and the Power, reflections on the history of science, Canongate, 1990
Other
- Lands of Exile, Kindle, 2012
Honors
- 1958: Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America
- 1990: Recipient of the ASA Pioneers of Underwater Acoustics Medal.
- AAAS life member