British geologist
Andrew Cowper Lawson
[1]
(July 25, 1861 ? June 16, 1952) was a Scots-born Canadian geologist who became professor of geology at the
University of California, Berkeley
. He was the editor and co-author of the 1908 report on the
1906 San Francisco earthquake
which became known as the "Lawson Report". He was also the first person to identify and name the
San Andreas Fault
in 1895, and after the 1906 quake, the first to delineate the entire length of the San Andreas Fault which previously had been noted only in the
San Francisco Bay Area
. He also named the
Franciscan Complex
after the Franciscan Order of the Catholic church whose missions used conscripted Native American labor to mine limestone in these areas.
Biography
[
edit
]
Lawson was born on July 25, 1861,
[2]
in
Anstruther
, Scotland.
[3]
He moved to
Hamilton, Ontario
, Canada with his parents at age six. In 1883, he received his B.A. degree in natural science from the
University of Toronto
.
[2]
He worked for the
Geological Survey of Canada
while pursuing his graduate degrees. He received his M.A. from the University of Toronto in 1885, and his Ph.D. from
Johns Hopkins University
in 1888.
In 1890, he left the Geological Survey of Canada to work as a consulting geologist in
Vancouver
. In October of the same year, he accepted a position as assistant professor of Mineralogy and Geology at the University of California in Berkeley. He became a full professor in 1892, and a professor emeritus from 1928 to his death on June 16, 1952.
Lawson was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
in 1915,
[4]
the United States
National Academy of Sciences
in 1924,
[5]
and the
American Philosophical Society
in 1925.
[6]
He was president of the
Geological Society of America
in 1926.
[7]
[8]
He was a consulting geologist for the construction of the
Golden Gate Bridge
in the 1930s.
His home in the
La Loma Park
area of the
Berkeley Hills
in
Berkeley, California
, called the "
Andrew Cowper Lawson House
" (1908), was especially designed for him by noted architect
Bernard Maybeck
to withstand earthquakes.
[9]
[10]
The house is an official city designated
Berkeley Landmark
.
[11]
The mineral
Lawsonite
is named for him, as is the
Lawson Adit
, originally a mining construction research tunnel on UC Berkeley's campus. During the Cold War, it was used to house special equipment to monitor Soviet nuclear tests. It is currently used to house seismological instruments.
Lawson Hill (elev. 1,128 feet), located west of the
Briones Hills
in
Contra Costa County, California
, is named for him.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Vaughan, Francis E. (1970).
Andrew C. Lawson: scientist, teacher, philosopher
. Glendale, CA: A.H. Clark.
ISBN
978-0870620973
.
OCLC
133498
.
- ^
a
b
Louderback, George D.
(January 1954).
"Memorial: Andrew Cowper Lawson (1861-1952)"
.
AAPG Bulletin
.
38
(1): 188.
ISSN
0149-1423
.
Wikidata
Q66986765
.
- ^
"Andrew Cowper Lawson (1861?1952)"
.
Earth & Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley
. 2005. Archived from
the original
on 2006-09-01.
- ^
"Andrew Cowper Lawson"
.
American Academy of Arts & Sciences
. 2023-02-09
. Retrieved
2023-08-16
.
- ^
"Andrew C. Lawson"
.
www.nasonline.org
. Retrieved
2023-08-16
.
- ^
"APS Member History"
.
search.amphilsoc.org
. Retrieved
2023-08-16
.
- ^
Fairchild, Herman LeRoy, 1932, The Geological Society of America 1888-1930, a Chapter in Earth Science History: New York, The Geological Society of America, 232 pp.
- ^
Eckel, Edwin, 1982, GSA Memoir 155, The Geological Society of America ? Life History of a Learned Society. Boulder, CO: Geological Society of America Memoir 155, 168 pp.
ISBN
0-8137-1155-X
.
- ^
McCoy, Esther
(1960).
Five California Architects
. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation. p. 20.
ASIN
B000I3Z52W
.
- ^
"A Tale of Two Houses"
.
Modern Magazine
. 2017-10-19
. Retrieved
2023-07-03
.
- ^
"Berkeley Landmarks, Designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Berkeley, CA"
.
Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA)
.
- The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906: Report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission
, Andrew C. Lawson, chairman, Carnegie Institution of Washington Publication 87, 2 vols. (1908) ? Available online at
this USGS webpage
.
External links
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