Papers of Perry Byerly, a professor in the Department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of California, Berkeley and a central figure in the development of the field of seismology in the United States.

Perry Byerly, a professor in the department of Geology and Geophysics at the University of California, Berkeley, played a seminal role in the development of the field of seismology in the United States. Born in Clarinda, Iowa in 1897, Byerly moved to California with his family in 1905. He obtained his A.B. (1921), M.A. (1922) and Ph.D. (1924) in physics from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1925, Byerly took charge of of UC Berkeley's seismographic stations, which had been built at Berkeley and Mount Hamilton in 1887. Byerly remained on the faculty until 1965. His first paper, published in 1924, investigated the dispersion of seismic wave trains from distant eathquakes. Two years later, he published a seminal paper on the travel times of P waves from the Montana earthquake of June 28, 1925. Byerly also devoted professional attention to seismological instruments. He grew the number of seismological stations at UC Berkeley from the original two to sixteen.

Number of containers: 7 cartons, 1 oversize folder (Linear feet: 8.75)

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