Using Semiconductor Physics to Forecast Earthquakes | Friedemann Freund | TEDxChristchurch

What if we could know when an earthquake was going to strike, days or even weeks in advance? Made over decades while he was a senior scientist at NASA, Dr Freund's discoveries about the properties of distressed rocks have profound implications for our ability to forecast seismic activity. Dr Friedemann T. Freund was a senior scientist at NASA for 30 years, is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Physics at San Jose State, and is a Principal Investigator at the SETI Institute. Prior to NASA, Dr Freund was a professor at the German universities of Göttingen and Cologne for 20 years. His interest in defects in crystals led him to questions related to the origin of life and, as a spin-off, to the physics of pre-earthquake signals. He is currently the Chairman and Chief Physicist of GeoCosmo, an organisation working to develop a global earthquake forecasting system. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx