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Max Wyss was born and raised in Zuerich, Switzerland. He earned a Diploma in geophysics at the Federal Institute of Technology, Zuerich. His MS and PhD in seismology, he obtained at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena in 1970.
After working as research scientist at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California and at the Lamont-Doherty Observatory, Palisades, New York, he became a Fellow of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder. There he remained during the years 1973 though 1991, advancing from Assistant to Full Professor. In 1991, he joined the Geophysical Institute of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks as Wadati Professor of Seismology. During 1993 to 1994, he was State Seismologist of Alaska. In 2001 Wyss accepted the Directorship of the World Agency of Planetary Monitoring and Earthquake Risk Reduction in Geneva. He is Professor Emeritus of the University of Alaska.
Max Wyss’ approximately 200 scientific publications deal with the following topics among others. Seismic source parameters, crustal deformation, stress tensor causing earthquakes, pore pressure related to earthquakes, seismicity patterns, earthquake prediction research, seismic hazard and risk, earthquake loss estimates, seismotectonics, historic earthquake catalogs, macroseismicity and seismicity related to volcanoes.
The awards he received included the Humboldt Senior Scientist award and a number of awards for specific research papers. For 10 years he served as editor of Pure and Applied Geophysics. The most important chairmanship of an international committee he held was that of the IASPEI Sub-commission on Earthquake Prediction during the years 1987 to 2002.
As a member of international external review teams Max Wyss evaluated twice the national seismology program of India and twice the performance of five national research laboratories in Greece. His consulting activity included seismic hazard analyses for dam sites and oil fields in South America, Central America, South America and Asia.
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