Alan Kafka

As a seismologist, I study a wide variety of topics on earthquakes and related matters, and I have long been obsessed with the enigma of why earthquakes occur in the Eastern United States (EUS), deep in the interior of the North American plate. This interest in the mystery of why the Earth quakes in the EUS is part of my broader fascination with what can and can't be known from science.

I am married to Rabbi Randy Kafka, who shares my fascination with how the search for certainty in an uncertain world often leads people to seek answers to life’s mysteries in science, religion, or both. I teach geophysics at Boston College and conduct research in seismology at Weston Observatory, BC's geophysical research and science education center.

Click here to read At Work: Alan Kafka ("Seismologists at Work" article published by Seismological Society of America)