Andrew Lawson

Infobox Scientist
name = Andrew Lawson
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caption = Andrew Lawson
birth_date = 1861
birth_place = Anstruther, Scotland
death_date = 1952
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nationality = Scotland
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field = geology
work_institutions = University of California, Berkeley
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known_for = report on the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake
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Andrew Cowper Lawson (1861-1952) was a 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.

Lawson was born on July 25, 1861 in Anstruther, Scotland. He moved to Hamilton, Canada with his parents at age six. In 1883, he received his B.A. degree in natural science from the University of Toronto. 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.

Professor Lawson 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, now called the "Lawson House", was especially designed for him by noted architect Bernard Maybeck to withstand earthquakes.cite book | last =McCoy | first =Esther | authorlink =Esther McCoy | title =Five California Architects | publisher =Reinhold Publishing Corporation | year =1960 | location =New York | pages =20 | id =ASIN B000I3Z52W] The house is an officially designated local landmark.

The mineral Lawsonite is named for him.

References

* "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 [http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/18april/references.php this USGS webpage] .

External links

* [http://eps.berkeley.edu/alumni/lawson.php UC Berkeley - Lawson Biography]
* [http://www.themonthly.com/feature04-06.html The Lawson House]
* [http://www.exploratorium.edu/faultline/great/science.html Exploratorium on Lawson]
* [http://www.worldandi.com/subscribers/feature_detail.asp?num=25035 Discoverer of the San Andreas Fault]
* [http://www.britannia.com/celtic/scotland/greatscots/l1.html Great Scots: Lawson]