Leon Thomsen

Leon. Thomsen holds degrees in geophysics from Caltech (B.S. 1964) and Columbia (Ph.D. 1969). His academic career began with post-doctoral appointments at CNRS in Paris, and at Caltech, followed by faculty appointments at the State University of New York in Binghamton (1972-80). Thomsen's industrial career began with 14 years at Amoco, at its famous Tulsa Research Center. Following the change of its mission in 1994, he joined Amoco's worldwide exploration department in Houston. Following the recent merger, he serves in BP Amoco's Upstream Technology Group in Houston, as Principal Geophysicist.

For his work in seismic anisotropy, Thomsen was given the Fessenden Award in 1994 by the SEG. He served as the SEG Distinguished Lecturer in 1997, and was Chairman of the Research Committee in 1998-2000. He and his colleagues received the EAGE's Best Paper Award in 1997 for their converted-wave analysis at Valhall. Thomsen was given Honorary Membership in the GSH in 1998.