The 1940s—a decade of consolidation

摘要

SEG's second decade began with a clear signal that applied geophysics had evolved into a mature scientific discipline—the nearly simultaneous appearance of three text books by widely rec-ognized experts (Exploration Geophysics by J.J. Jakowsky, Geophysical Exploration by C.A. Heiland, and Geophysical Prospecting for Oil by L.L. Nettleton). The page count of these three books was an indication of just how fast and how far geophysics had advanced in the 16 years since the first time that a geophysical survey had led to the discovery of commercial quantities of petroleum. Nettleton's book (perhaps because it was limited to oil exploration) was the runt of the litter at a mere 650 pages. Jakowsky's book was 786 pages and included a list of patents at the end of each chapter (interestingly, patents had already been granted in the USA, UK, Canada, France, and USSR).