Ho-Kwang Mao

Ho-Kwang (Dave) Mao (born June 18, 1941) is an eminent American geologist and Staff Scientist at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution for Science.

Family

Mao's hometown is Jiangshan of Zhejiang Province, China. Mao's father the Lieutenant General Mao Sen (毛森), was a high-ranked official of the intelligence department of the Republic of China. Mao Sen is among the so-called "Three Maos" or "One Dai Three Maos" (the other two Maos are Mao Wanli (毛万里) and Mao Renfeng (毛人凤); the Dai is Dai Li (戴笠), all the four came from Jiangshan), which were the core intelligence crew of Chiang Kai-shek.

Biography

Mao was born in Shanghai in 1941. When Mao was seven-years old, Mao moved to Taiwan with his family. Mao received his BS from National Taiwan University in 1963. Mao further pursued his studies in the United States, and obtained MS in 1966 and PhD in 1968 from the University of Rochester, Rochester NY.

From 1968-1972, Mao did his postdoctoral research at the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW). From then on Mao has spent his career at Geophysical Laboratory as a Senior Staff scientist.

Research

Mao is one of the most prolific users of the diamond anvil cell for research at high pressures. Although at the time the claim was controversial,^[1] his work with Peter M. Bell^[2] is now generally accepted as being the first verified static pressure in excess of 1 Megabar.

Honors & awards

• 2008, Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society of London
• 1996, Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
• 1994, Academician of the Academia Sinica, Taiwan
• 1993, Member of the United States National Academy of Science
• 1996, Fellow of the Geochemical Society
• 1994, Fellow of the American Physical Society
• 1987, Fellow of the American Geophysical Union
• 1979, Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America
• 2007, the Inge Lehmann Medal, from the American Geophysical Union
• 2005, the Balzan Prize for Mineral Physics (with Russell J. Hemley)
• 2005, the Gregori Aminoff Prize, from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• 2005, the Roebling Medal, from the Mineralogical Society of America
• 1990, the Arthur L. Day Prize, from the United States National Academy of Sciences
• 1989, the P. W. Bridgman Award, from the AIRAPT International
• 1979, the Mineralogical Society of America Award

References

1. The Diamond Makers, R.M.Hazen, Cambridge Univ Press (1999), ISBN 0-521-65474-2
2. H.K.Mao and P.M.Bell,Science 191 851-852 (1976)

External links

• CV and publications
• Carnegie Institution for Science