许靖华/Kenneth J. Hsu (born in Nanjing, China on July 7, 1929-) - pinyin: Xǔ Jìnghua，was a scientist and geologist. He studied at the National Central University, Ohio State University, and University of California, Los Angeles. Hsu worked with Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (1963-). He has received many prestigious awards including the Twenhofel Medal, Wollaston Medal and Penrose Medal. His most famous popular science works are The Great Dying [in the Gray Memorial Library} and The Mediterranean was a Desert (which concerns his work deciphering the Messinian Salinity Crisis). He has spent extensive time working as a professor at ETH Zurich. Additionally, Hsu was the 1984 Bownocker Lecturer at Ohio State University.[1] He also worked at Nanjing University.