Akiho Miyashiro, a Japanese geologist renowned for his research in plate tectonics, was found dead Thursday in a forest park in New York, local police said Friday. He was 87.
The police suspect that Miyashiro might have fallen off a cliff while walking through the park.
Miyashiro went to the park with his wife on Tuesday evening and parted with her to stay and take pictures. Since he did not return home at night, police and fire department officers conducted a search for him, the police said.
Miyashiro, a native of Okayama Prefecture, won such prestigious prizes as the Geological Society of America's Arthur L. Day award and a Japan Academy award for his research on the movement of the earth's crust from plate tectonics.
The geologist was a professor at Columbia University in New York City and New York State University.