Amos M. Nur, the Wayne Loel Professor of Earth Sciences, Emeritus, at Stanford University and broadly acknowledged as one of the world’s foremost experts in geology and geophysics, died of a heart attack at his home on the Stanford campus on June 10, 2024. He was 86.

Nur founded and was a longtime director of the Stanford Rock Physics and Borehole Geophysics Project. He excelled in many aspects of geophysics, including the interaction of rocks and fluids at multiple scales, the physics of faulting and earthquake nucleation, and earthquake archeology, a field of research he defined. He also pioneered the science of “seismic velocity measurements” to monitor the evolving states of oil and gas reserves as fluid was pumped out.

“Amos was an ‘ideas’ person. He loved coming up with new ideas and he inspired those around him to do the same. Every time I shared an idea with him, his eyes – actually, all of him – lit up and he would nod encouragingly, waiting to hear more,” remembered Rosemary Knight, whom Nur advised during her doctoral work at Stanford in the early 1980s and who later joined him on the faculty. “I have never forgotten his way of letting me know that ideas matter – that my ideas matter. It was working with Amos that inspired me to choose life as a faculty member, and to foster in my own research group an environment that encourages and celebrates student creativity and self-confidence.”

“Volcano” of ideas

Nur described his full-circle evolution – from an early interest studying rocks in general to exploring the broader laws of geophysics and back again – to fundamental geology. “There were two facets about geology that, at the time, began to make me feel uneasy. It felt inconclusive and I wasn’t able to prove anything. I heard the term ‘geophysics’ and it sounded right. It was only much later that I began to appreciate geology. Geophysics is a tool that helps us to find partial answers about the Earth, but the big questions really come from geology,” Nur explained.

“Amos had an uncanny ability to work at the intersection of disciplines. I arrived at Stanford in 1982 as Professor of Petroleum Engineering. We were soon discussing integrating my fluid flow modeling with his geophysical monitoring to advance predictions about the behavior of petroleum reservoirs,” said friend and colleague Khalid Aziz, Otto N. Miller Professor, Emeritus. “Amos was instrumental in the creation of what is now the Stanford Center for Earth Resources Forecasting (SCERF), attracting new colleagues and funding sources. SCERF would not have been possible without him.”

He would later apply his myriad skills to study the relationship between earthquakes and archaeology. He published over 250 peer-reviewed papers and authored three books. His best known book was 2008’s Apocalypse: Earthquakes, Archaeology, and the Wrath of God, which posited that biblical accounts, mythology, and the archaeological record held clues that ancient civilizations were destroyed by earthquakes, not by wars.

“You need only look at Amos’ CV and the way it changed over time to realize that this was a person constantly on the lookout for the next fascinating topic to work on,” Knight said.

After retirement, Nur lamented: “When I retired, I discovered that I had so many projects or ideas that I thought I would start. And I realized how many of them I’m not going to do because there’s not much time left.”

In addition to his fundamental research, Nur was an influential teacher revered by his students. Nur proudly listed by name the many advisees he had mentored to their graduate degrees and their current places of employment in academia, government, and industry throughout the world. From 2000-2005, Nur was also director of the Bing Overseas Studies Program that provides transformational educational experiences in stimulating settings throughout the world.

“Amos was a volcano of ideas,” said his widow, Francina Lozada-Nur, a professor emerita at the University of California, San Francisco. “He was extremely creative. I think he passed that on to his students. He was very inspirational.”

Professor Emeritus Mark Zoback, who served on the Geophysics faculty with Nur for more than 30 years, was also a PhD student with him. He recalled Nur’s recognition of the need for fundamental research involving topics that were also of practical importance. Geologically, his interest in almost everything was truly inspirational, and he urged us not to restrict ourselves to working only in a limited area of expertise.

“He told me to think of a PhD like a union card,” Zoback recalled. “It demonstrates that you can do original research at a high level, it doesn't mean you should be doing the same thing for the rest of your career.”

Oft-honored academic

Amos Michael Nur was born February 9, 1938, in Haifa, in what is now Israel. He was raised on a farm, which he credited with piquing his early interest in geology. Nur earned his Bachelor of Science in geology at Hebrew University, Israel, in 1962. His PhD in geophysics at MIT came in 1969. He joined the Stanford faculty a year later, serving until his retirement in 2008.

He was chair of the Stanford Geophysics Department twice, from 1986 to 1991 and from 1997 to 2000. In 1974, Nur earned the American Geophysical Union’s Macelwane Medal, recognizing significant early career contributions to Earth and space science. In 2011, he won the Ewing Medal from the Society of Exploration Geophysics. Nur was also an elected member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Geophysical Union, the Geological Society of America, and the California Academy of Sciences.

Nur was conferred an honorary doctorate at his hometown’s University of Haifa in 2013. In its dedication, the school singled out Nur for “his groundbreaking research in Earth sciences, his academic excellence and constant determination to shape new knowledge that advances humanity to reach new frontiers.”

Nur is survived by his wife, Dr. Francina Lozada-Nur of Stanford, California; son, Boaz Nur of Barcelona, Spain; and three grandchildren, Sofia, Sebastian, and Olivia Nur, all of Barcelona.

There will be a celebration of the life of Amos Nur on February 9, 2025, at 10:30 a.m. on the Stanford campus. Details will be available on the Geophysics Department website. The family requests gifts in memory of Amos Nur to be made to the Stanford Department of Music or Stanford Live General Gifts.