Obituary: Hengchang Dai
Hengchang Dai, a senior research geophysicist at the British Geological Survey, passed away peacefully on the 5 July 2021 at Marie Curie Hospice, Edinburgh, Scotland after an eighteen-month fight with lung cancer. The professional community lost a gifted geophysicist, and we lost a dear colleague and friend.
Hengchang was born on the 16 April 1957 in Changli, Hebei province, China. He spent his early years travelling around China as his father moved between jobs. In December 1977, Hengchang was one of only two-hundred and seventy thousand aspiring students in China who passed the University entry examination. He was admitted into the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), one of the top universities in the country. In 1982 he graduated with a BSc in geophysics from USTC, then continued his academic pursuits at the Institute of Geophysics, China Earthquake Administration, where he received an MSc in 1984. He remained as a research associate in the institute until 1991.
Hengchang moved to the UK in September 1991 to pursue a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, working for the Edinburgh Anisotropy Project (EAP), an oil company consortium based on the British Geological Survey. He received his PhD in 1996 and worked with the EAP for the rest of his life. Hengchang pioneered the application of neural networks to seismology in the mid 1990’s, publishing landmark papers which are still highly cited today. He also championed the application of parallel computing using PC clusters to process seismic data. He developed the CXtools package based on the Seismic Unix (SU) platform for processing converted-wave seismic data in the presence of anisotropy. The package is still very popular with the EAP sponsors and students. As a result, Hengchang travelled around the world to install the package and to give inhouse training courses to EAP sponsors. In 2012, EAP was the recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society of Exploration Geophysicists, and Hengchang was one of the key contributors to this award.
In recent years, Hengchang spent much time teaching, supervising PhD students, and hosting academic visitors. He was always a supportive and generous mentor, giving advice in all aspects of student life whether academic or social. Hengchang was also an active reviewer for journal papers and an editorial member for the Journal of Geophysics and Engineering.
Hengchang was a devoted husband and father, is survived by his wife Ying, and son Zhoudi, and will forever live in their hearts and minds as a caring and loving husband and father. Hengchang’s gentle personality and kind nature will be lovingly remembered by his many friends and colleagues, and all those whose life and work he touched. He will be greatly missed!