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