There are two types of theoretical physics research – undirected and directed fundamental research. The former seeks knowledge for its own sake – and that research activity deserves our strong encouragement and constant support. The latter (directed fundamental research) begins with a significant prioritized problem, where a solution is completely unknown, and whether in principle a solution is even possible is also unknown. Dr. Weglein’s research is in the latter category, directed fundamental physics research – in seismic physics for petroleum exploration. Mission-Oriented means directed fundamental research.

From his experience in the petroleum industry and in academia he has determined that researchers are rarely (if ever) those with whom one ought to speak with to identify actual seismic challenges and impediments. Refereed journals and international conferences often report methods with a 100% success rate – yet the reality in, for example, the frontier region of the deep-water Gulf of America is one in ten successful drilling – at 300 million dollars a well. Within that disconnect resides an opportunity to identify real prioritized challenges and open issues – for fundamental directed research.

Weglein recommends communicating with individuals in the business units who make drilling decisions – to understand under what circumstances current seismic capability can be successful, and when they break down and fail. All mainstream cutting edge seismic methods assume that an adequate velocity model can be determined between the earth’s surface and the target at depth. The inability to provide that velocity information is a leading cause of exploration and production dry-hole and drilling failure.

The seismic imaging methods that provide current cutting edge seismic capability (and require an adequate velocity model) derive from the Classical Mathematical Methods in Physics found in the classic texts by Morse and Feshbach and Courant and Hilbert. In Weglein’s career he (along with colleagues and students) pioneered, developed, and delivered a fundamentally new Seismic Physics and concomitant Mathematical Methods in Physics, that can achieve every processing objective directly, without knowing, estimating, or determining any subsurface information (including velocity). His contributions have had a game-changing effect on seismic processing and seismic exploration – recognized by a Townsend Harris Medal from CCNY/CUNY (2008), the SEG Reginald Fessenden Medal (2010), and the highest SEG honor and recognition, the Maurice Ewing Medal in 2016.

Stolt and Weglein published volume I of a two-volume set “Seismic Imaging and Inversion: Application of Linear Inverse Theory” (2012), for Cambridge University Press, and Weglein and Stolt will be publishing volume II “Seismic Imaging and Inversion: Application of Direct Nonlinear Inverse Theory” in 2026. This two-volume set provides a high-water mark of seismic capability within volume I. In volume II we present the new and superseding seismic capability that removes the limiting assumptions of volume I with the concomitant new and superseding Mathematical Methods in Physics.

Weglein has recently become interested in medical imaging for the early detection of cancer – with a similar strategy of first communicating with the ‘business units’ the surgeons and radiologists for problem definition – and then pioneering and developing fundamentally new step change more effective higher resolution imaging methods for distinguishing smooth from rugous boundaries.

The great adventure in seismic and medical imaging continues – it’s always a work in progress.