{{short description|French-American physicist and seismologist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox person |name = Barbara A. Romanowicz |image = Barbara Romanowicz 2.jpg |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1950|04|05|df=y}} |birth_place = Suresnes, France |occupation = Geophysicist }}
'''Barbara A. Romanowicz''' FRS (born 5 April 1950) is a French geophysicist and an expert on imaging the Earth's interior.<ref name=gates/> She was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in May 2026.<ref name=RS>{{cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/news/2026/05/new-fellows-announcement-2026/|title=Exceptional scientists elected as Fellows of the Royal Society|date=27 May 2026|access-date=27 May 2026}}</ref>
== Early life == Romanowicz was born in Suresnes, France.
She is the daughter of Kazimierz Romanowicz and Zofia Romanowiczowa.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/once-over/renaissance-zofia-romanowicz-1922-2010-alice-catherine-carls|title=The Renaissance of Zofia Romanowicz (1922–2010) by Alice-Catherine Carls|date=12 September 2016|website=World Literature Today}}</ref> The first years of Barbara's life were an inspiration for Zofia Romanowiczowa's debut novel entitled ''Baśka and Barbara''.
== Education == Romanowicz received a BSc degree in mathematics from the Ecole Normale Supérieure, a MSc in applied physics from Harvard University, and doctoral degrees in astronomy from Pierre and Marie Curie University and in geophysics from Paris Diderot University.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}
== Career == From 1979 to 1981, Romanowicz was a postdoctoral researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1982 to 1990, while working as a researcher at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), she developed a global network of seismic stations known as GEOSCOPE to study earthquakes and the interior structure of the Earth. From 1990 to 2011, she was director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory; she was also a professor in the Earth and Planetary Science department at the University of California, Berkeley. During her time at the Berkeley laboratory, she helped develop a real-time earthquake notification system for northern California. In 2011 she was named to the chair of Physics of the Earth Interior at the Collège de France,<ref name=erc>{{cite web |url=https://erc.europa.eu/erc_member/barbara-romanowicz |title=Barbara Romanowicz |publisher=European Research Council}}</ref><ref name=gates>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iiG70wX0HMwC&pg=PA223 |title=A to Z of Earth Scientists |pages=223–224 |last=Gates |first=Alexander E |year=2009 |isbn=978-1438109190}}</ref> where she regularly organises symposiums on topics related to the evolution of the Earth.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.college-de-france.fr/site/en-barbara-romanowicz/_symposium.htm|title=Home|website=www.college-de-france.fr|language=en|access-date=18 February 2020}}</ref>
She has been European editor for ''Geophysical Research Letters'' and editor for ''Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors''.<ref name=gates/>
She is the founder of Cooperative Institute for Dynamic Earth Research (CIDER), which was established with the goal to engage geoscientist on multidisciplinary research.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Romanowicz|first=Barbara|last2=Hirschmann|first2=Marc|last3=Kellogg|first3=Louise|last4=Manga|first4=Michael|last5=Mukhopadhyay|first5=Sujoy|last6=Buffett|first6=Bruce|date=8 May 2017|title=Advancing Geoscience Research through CIDER|url=https://doi.org/10.1130/GSATG329GW.1|journal=GSA Today|pages=60–61|doi=10.1130/gsatg329gw.1|issn=1052-5173|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
From 2011 to 2020, she was professor at the Collège de France (Paris) in the chair "Physique de l'intérieur de la Terre".
In 2019, Romanowicz received the William Bowie Medal for "outstanding contributions for fundamental geophysics and for unselfish cooperation in research".<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|title=Barbara Romanowicz Receives 2019 William Bowie Medal|url=https://eos.org/agu-news/barbara-romanowicz-receives-2019-william-bowie-medal|access-date=3 June 2021|website=Eos|language=en-US}}</ref> Her citation includes:
{{Blockquote |text=Dr. Romanowicz's research is characterized by innovative seismological theory, sophisticated numerical methods, and insightful interpretations that have illuminated key Earth processes. |author=Karen Fischer }}
==Honors and awards== <!-- * 1989 French Academy of Sciences Prize (Fonds Doistau-Blutet)--> * 1990 Fellow, American Geophysical Union<ref>{{cite web | url = https://honors.agu.org/honorsfellow/2433-romanowicz/ | title = AGU Fellows page}}</ref> * 1992 Silver Medal of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique<ref name="cnrs">{{cite web |url=https://videotheque.cnrs.fr/doc=312?langue=EN |title=CNRS Silver Medals |work=CNRS video library}}</ref> * 1999 {{ill|Alfred Wegener Medal|de}} of the European Union of Geosciences<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.egu.eu/eug/alfred_wegner.htm | title = List of previous Wegner medallists}}</ref> * 2001 Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.amacad.org/multimedia/pdfs/alphalist2017.pdf | title = AAAS Fellowship list}}</ref> * 2003 Gutenberg Medal, European Geophysical Society<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.egu.eu/awards-medals/beno-gutenberg/2003/barbara-romanowicz/ | title = EGU medal citation page}}</ref> <!-- * 2004 Beno Gutenberg Lecturer, American Geophysical Union --> * 2005 Member, National Academy of Sciences<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/65399.html | title = NAS Fellowship page}}</ref> * 2008 Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, France * 2009 Inge Lehmann Medal of the American Geophysical Union<ref>{{cite web | url = https://honors.agu.org/winners/barbara-a-romanowicz/ | title = AGU medal citation page}}</ref> * 2010 Miller Professor, University of California, Berkeley * 2011 Harry Reid Medal of the Seismological Society of America<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.seismosoc.org/award-recipient/barbara-romanowicz/ | title = SSA medal citation page }}</ref> <!-- * 2013 Martin Meyerson Berkeley Faculty Research Lecturer --> * 2013 Elected Member, Académie des Sciences, France * 2019 William Bowie Medal of the American Geophysical Union<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://eos.org/agu-news/2019-agu-union-medal-award-and-prize-recipients-announced|title=2019 AGU Union Medal, Award, and Prize Recipients Announced|website=Eos|language=en-US|access-date=22 August 2019}}</ref><ref name="auto"/> * 2020 Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society of London <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.geolsoc.org.uk/About/awards-grants-and-bursaries/society-awards/2020|title=2020 awards and funds winners|publisher=Geological Society|accessdate= 28 April 2020}}</ref> * 2026 Fellow of the Royal Society<ref name=RS/>
== Personal life == In 1979, Romanowicz married Mark Jonikas.<ref name=gates/>
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Romanowicz, Barbara A}} Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:French geophysicists Category:Harvard University alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Fellows of the Royal Society