IBEN BROWNING WILL NOT SOON BE FORGOTTEN HERE

We note with appropriate respect and condolence the death Thursday of Iben Browning. As 1990 began, most of us were happily ignorant of this New Mexican; by year's end, he had become a household name. Depending on who you spoke to, Browning's name was either revered or vilified ... quite a trick for a scientist. His death poses us an opportunity to ponder what we learned from Browning, and at what price.

Though at home in a laboratory, Browning could hardly reproduce the formula that led to earthquake scare of 1990. The elements, as best we understand them even now, were: a scientist with vague and inflated credentials; a mysterious theory about how oceans tides stimulate seismic activity; a scientific community with boosters quick to promote and detractors slow to decry; news media anxious to help but lacking perspective and tardy in separating facts from foolishness; and a public with a primal fear of something bigger than all of us.

Together, we learned from Browning the term "enhanced probability," which yielded to a more frightening shorthand, "prediction." In words that were dressed differently but quite clear, Browning said an earthquake - a big one - was coming last Dec. 3 and people along the New Madrid Fault had better get ready. As individuals, we know nothing of seismic projections; for some reason, however, many of us trusted that this stranger from Albuquerque did.

Before December arrived, we knew all about earthquake kits and survival techniques, proper shelter and emergency procedures. Supporters to this day say Browning's faulty projection did more to advance disaster preparedness in this region than a dozen community seminars on the subject. They may be right. By the same token, people probably know a little more about the dangers of a fire after hearing the word yelled in a crowded theater. There is a price to be paid for haste.

Browning said he did not intend to set off the chain of events that led to school and business closures, a travel industry bonanza and a general disruption of life in this region last December. Still, Browning did little in word and deed to slow the inertia of what became a panic. He must have recognized what he had wrought, yet did nothing when it was in his reach to ease tensions. Maybe that is his proper legacy, not that he was wrong, but that he was ultimately indifferent.

For people of Southeast Missouri and in surrounding states touched by the New Madrid Fault, Iben Browning's name will long be synonymous with something bad that didn't happen ... but still could. We wish not to speak ill of the dead, only to duly note the man's passing. He will not soon be forgotten.