Prof. Reiss, who received an honorary doctorate from the Technion in 2005, is an expert on geological processes such as landslides, tsunamis and earthquakes
The Harvey Prize, the most prestigious prize given by the Technion, will be awarded this year in the field of science and technology to Prof. James Rice from Harvard University. He will receive the award for his extensive and continuing contributions to the fields of mechanics of materials and geophysics, for the development of the J integral, and for his leadership in expanding human knowledge of friction and earthquakes.
Prof. Rice was born on December 3, 1940 in the town of Frederick in Maryland, United States. He attended a Catholic school that recruited the science and math teachers from the nearby army base, and these ignited his love for engineering and science.
In 1958, Rice began studying at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and in just six years completed three consecutive degrees in mechanical engineering and applied mechanics. From there he went on to do a post-doctorate at Brown University, where he started working in 1964. In 1981 he moved from Brown University to Harvard University, where he serves as a professor of engineering sciences and geophysics.
Prof. Rice won many awards including the Tymoshenko medal and the ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) medal and was elected to the Royal Society of London, the American Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Sciences. The Academy of Engineering Sciences established an award in his name to honor his contribution to engineering sciences. In 2005, the Technion awarded him an honorary doctorate.
Prof. Reiss is an expert in the mechanics of solids and fluids - pressure, deformation, fractures and flow - in contexts including seismology, physics of tectonic processes and dynamics of the ground surface. He deals with the mechanics of the earth, including mechanisms of the formation of earthquakes (researches he conducts with his wife, Prof. Renata Demoska), dynamics of failures and cracks, tsunamis and landslides. The award committee highlighted one of Prof. Reiss's great achievements - integral J, which allows the rate of energy release from the surface of a material under stress to be calculated. He chose the capital letter J with "J-Integral" following his nickname among the students, big Jim. This letter is also the accepted notation for energy flows in solids with defects - a field he worked on with Brown University experts Daniel Drucker and Joseph Castine and later with Rodney Hill at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
The Harvey Prize, founded in 1971 by Leo Harvey (1973-1887), is awarded annually at the Technion for outstanding achievements in science, technology and human health and for a significant contribution to humanity. Over the years it became a "Nobel predictor" and more than 30% of its winners later received a Nobel Prize. Three of them - Prof. Emmanuel Charpentier, Prof. Jennifer Daudna and Prof. Reinhard Gentzel - received the Nobel Prize for 2020 last year. The amount of the prize is 75,000 dollars.
