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  • 1964
    Syun-Ichi Akasofu Publishes "The Development of the Auroral Substorm"
    Akasofu next to a chalk board speaking to another man.

    Syun-Ichi Akasofu, a graduate student under Sydney Chapman, identifies and describes the auroral substorm, an intermittent, one- to three-hour disruption and recovery of normally quiet auroral forms, partly using some observations from the all-sky camera. His findings are published in Planetary and Space Science and have been cited by more than 900 space physicists in their own papers.

  • 1964
    The Great Alaska Earthquake
    The street is sunk in with people walking on different levels. Cars and buildings are trapped and slanted. Damage/broken material scattered.

    The Great Alaska Earthquake in Prince William Sound, also known as the Good Friday Earthquake, occurs March 27, resulting in 131 casualties. The quake triggers massive shoreline subsidence, landslides, glacial calving and cataclysmic waves. The Geophysical Institute Seismology Group helps document the impact of the massive event, recording it as a 9.2 magnitude earthquake.