Don Lynn Anderson Papers

Professor of Geophysics Don Lynn Anderson was Director of Caltech's Seismological Laboratory from 1967 through 1989. In that position, he succeeded two front rank geophysicists, Beno Gutenberg and Frank Press. The Seismo Lab was founded in Pasadena in 1927 by the Carnegie Institution of Washington; its administration was taken over by Caltech some years later, in 1937.

Although closely associated with the development of the magnitude scale (the "Richter scale") and other aspects of seismological measurement, the Seismo Lab has been much more than an earthquake lab. In writing about the Lab in 1989, Anderson stressed its non-earthquake aspects: "The Seismology Laboratory is not primarily an observatory; it has been, in fact, the 'Geophysics Department' at Caltech." While providing earthquake information for the local and statewide community and running the Southern California Seismic Array (the "Network" of seismic stations which record earthquake data), the Lab has produced major scientific work in geophysics throughout its history.

The papers in this collection were deposited in the Archives in 1996 by Professor Anderson. They date from the period of his directorship of the Lab and concern the Lab directly. However, they do not form a complete record, as there are notable gaps, for example, in Anderson's own series of memos (nothing for the last ten years of his tenure) and in general administrative correspondence.

Researchers interested in the history of the Seismology Laboratory should also examine the following files in the Caltech Archives: Historical Files (under Geology Division), Seismology Records (microfiche), and the papers of Beno Gutenberg, Charles Richter and Harry O. Wood.