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Duntley (Seibert Q.) Papers
SMC 0058  
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Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Descriptive Summary
  • Scope and Content of Collection
  • Biography
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • OFF-SITE STORAGE
  • Publication Rights
  • Related Materials

  • Descriptive Summary

    Languages: English
    Contributing Institution: Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego
    9500 Gilman Drive
    La Jolla 92093-0175
    Title: Seibert Q. Duntley Papers
    Creator: Duntley, Seibert Q.
    Identifier/Call Number: SMC 0058
    Physical Description: 5 Linear feet (5 record cartons)
    Date (inclusive): 1930-1977
    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.

    Scope and Content of Collection

    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.

    Biography

    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.

    Preferred Citation

    Seibert Q. Duntley Papers. SMC 58. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

    Acquisition Information

    Acquired 1987

    OFF-SITE STORAGE

    COLLECTION STORED OFF-SITE. ALLOW ONE WEEK FOR RETRIEVAL OF MATERIALS.

    Publication Rights

    Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.

    Related Materials

    UC San Diego. Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Visibility Laboratory Records, SAC 38. Special Collections & Archives, UC San Diego.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Optics -- Research
    Lantern slides
    Duntley, Seibert Q. -- Archives
    Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Visibility Laboratory
    Optical Society of America