Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Seibert Q. Duntley Papers
- Dates:
- 1930-1977
- Creators:
- Duntley, Seibert Q.
- Abstract:
- Papers of Seibert Quimby Duntley (1911-1999), a researcher in the field of visibility and optics and long-time director of the SIO Visibility Laboratory. The collection includes professional correspondence, teaching and lecture notes, a small selection of research projects, and documentation relating to professional organizations in which Duntley was an active member.
- Extent:
- 5 Linear feet (5 record cartons)
- Language:
- English
- Preferred citation:
-
Seibert Q. Duntley Papers. SMC 58. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Papers of Seibert Quimby Duntley (1911-1999), a researcher in the field of visibility and optics and long-time director of the SIO Visibility Laboratory. The collection includes professional correspondence, teaching and lecture notes, a small selection of research projects, and documentation relating to professional organizations in which Duntley was an active member. It also includes a small amount of biographical material and images, including glass lantern slides.
Arranged in six series: 1) BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIALS, 2) CORRESPONDENCE, 3) NOTEBOOKS, 4) TEACHING MATERIALS, 5) LECTURES, RESEARCH AND WRITINGS, 6) ORGANIZATIONS and 7) PHOTOGRAPHS.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Seibert Quimby Duntley, known as Quimby to colleagues and family, was born on October 2, 1911 in Bushnell, Illinois. He received his SB in physics from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1933. During his undergraduate years, Duntley was a member of the Coast Artillery R.O.T.C. unit at MIT and received a reserve commission of second lieutenant. Duntley earned his MS degree from the California Institute of Technology in 1935 and his Sc.D. in physics from MIT in 1939. Duntley was a teaching fellow at MIT in the Department of Physics from 1937-1939, and was promoted to the faculty as an Instructor in Physics in 1939. His primary academic interest was in the optics of turbid media. During this time he also met Mabel Austin, his wife of 62 years and the sister of his lifelong professional colleague Roswell Austin.
In 1939, Dr. Duntley and Dr. Arthur Hardy founded the Visibility Laboratory at MIT, which became Duntley's main focus throughout the 1940s (though, during this time, Duntley also consulted for corporations, and continued his teaching responsibilities at MIT). In 1952, the Visibility Laboratory moved to the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) in La Jolla, California. Duntley continued to serve as director, and began teaching at SIO and the new UC San Diego campus, earning the title of Professor in 1966. He also served on the SIO Academic Senate, the Staff Council, and several SIO committees. Duntley gave presentations in the San Diego area as well, such as the Theatre and Arts Foundation of San Diego County's "Meet the Scientist" lecture series.
Duntley was an active member of professional organizations including the American Institute of Physics (AIP), the International Commission for Optics (ICO), and Optical Society of America (OSA). He was heavily involved in the OSA during the 1950s and 1960s and participated in several of their committees. In 1961, the OSA awarded the Frederick E. Ives Medal to Duntley for distinguished work in the field of optics; he was appointed president of the OSA in 1965.
Duntley resigned as director of the Visibility Laboratory in 1975, but he continued to teach and conduct research until his retirement in 1977. During his long career, he wrote over a hundred papers on the topics of physics, visibility, and optics. He died in La Jolla on October 22, 1999.
- Acquisition information:
- Acquired 1987
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2026-03-20 21:24:15 +0000 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW TWO TO THREE (2-3) WEEKS FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.
Original sound recordings are restricted. Listening copies may be available for researchers.
- Terms of access:
-
Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.
- Preferred citation:
-
Seibert Q. Duntley Papers. SMC 58. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.
- Location of this collection:
-
9500 Gilman Drive, Dept. 0175La Jolla, CA 92093-0175, US
- Contact:
- (858) 534-2533