Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Byerly, Perry, 1897-1978
- Abstract:
- 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.
- Extent:
- Number of containers: 7 cartons, 1 oversize folder (Linear feet: 8.75)
- Language:
- Collection materials are in English
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Mostly files from Perry Byerly's consulting work on private and public sector projects relating to the siting of dams, nuclear power plants, and buildings. Among these consulting files are also materials on Byerly's work with the Atomic Energy Commission and the United States Air Force during the 1950s and 1960s on the seismic effects of nuclear testing. Also included is correspondence from 1965 through 1974, assorted publications and reprints, and some miscellaneous notes and papers.
- Biographical / historical:
-
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.
Byerly was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and held two Guggenheim fellowships, one of which took him to Cambridge University, where he established a lifelong friendship with Sir Harold Jeffreys, renowned mathemetician, geophysicist and astronomer. Byerly was Secretary of the Seismological Society of American from 1931 until 1956. He was a Condon lecturer in Oregon in 1952. A significant amount of his work as a seismologist involved consultations on geophysics and seismology for particular government and private sector projects. For the Atomic Energy Commission Byerly studied seismic safety relating to underground nuclear testing in Nevada and the Aleutians. He also consulted on the siting of nuclear reactors and other structures.
- Physical location:
- Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481