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Andrew Cowper Lawson (July 25, 1861 – June 16, 1952) was a Scots-Canadian geologist who became professor of geology at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant univ ...
. He was the editor and co-author of the 1908 report on the
1906 San Francisco earthquake At 05:12 Pacific Standard Time on Wednesday, April 18, 1906, the coast of Northern California was struck by a major earthquake with an estimated moment magnitude of 7.9 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). High-intensity sh ...
which became known as the "Lawson Report". He was also the first person to identify and name the
San Andreas Fault The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly through California. It forms the tectonic boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip (horizontal). ...
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 The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gover ...
. He also named the
Franciscan Complex The Franciscan Complex or Franciscan Assemblage is a geologic term for a late Mesozoic terrane of heterogeneous rocks found throughout the California Coast Ranges, and particularly on the San Francisco Peninsula. It was named by geologist Andrew ...
after the Franciscan Order of the Catholic church whose missions used conscripted Native American labor to mine limestone in these areas.


Biography

Lawson was born on July 25, 1861, in
Anstruther Anstruther ( sco, Ainster or Enster ; gd, Ànsruthair) is a small coastal resort town in Fife, Scotland, situated on the north-shore of the Firth of Forth and south-southeast of St Andrews. The town comprises two settlements, Anstruther Eas ...
, Scotland. He moved to
Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...
, Canada with his parents at age six. In 1883, he received his B.A. degree in natural science from the
University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
. He worked for the
Geological Survey of Canada The Geological Survey of Canada (GSC; french: Commission géologique du Canada (CGC)) is a Canadian federal government agency responsible for performing geological surveys of the country, developing Canada's natural resources and protecting the en ...
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 Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consiste ...
in 1888. In 1890, he left the Geological Survey of Canada to work as a consulting geologist in
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. T ...
. 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 president of the
Geological Society of America The Geological Society of America (GSA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of the geosciences. History The society was founded in Ithaca, New York, in 1888 by Alexander Winchell, John J. Stevenson, Charles H. Hitchc ...
in 1926.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.. He was a consulting geologist for the construction of the
Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Penin ...
in the 1930s. His home in the
La Loma Park La Loma Park is a tract of land located in the Berkeley Hills section of the city of Berkeley, California in the San Francisco Bay Area. The Spanish word ''loma'' means "rise/low hill". It was the property of Captain Richard Parks Thomas, a vetera ...
area of the
Berkeley Hills The Berkeley Hills are a range of the Pacific Coast Ranges that overlook the northeast side of the valley that encompasses San Francisco Bay. They were previously called the "Contra Costa Range/Hills" (from the original Spanish ''Sierra de la C ...
in
Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emery ...
, now called the "Lawson House", was especially designed for him by noted architect
Bernard Maybeck Bernard Ralph Maybeck (February 7, 1862 – October 3, 1957) was an American architect in the Arts and Crafts Movement of the early 20th century. He was an instructor at University of California, Berkeley. Most of his major buildings were in ...
to withstand earthquakes. The house is an officially designated local landmark. The mineral
Lawsonite Lawsonite is a hydrous calcium aluminium sorosilicate mineral with formula CaAl2Si2O7(OH)2·H2O. Lawsonite crystallizes in the orthorhombic system in prismatic, often tabular crystals. Crystal twinning is common. It forms transparent to transluce ...
is named for him, as is the
Lawson Adit The Lawson Adit is a horizontal mine tunnel, or adit, on the UC Berkeley campus, near the Hearst Mining Building, dug directly through the Hayward Fault. Started in 1916, the adit is named after Andrew Lawson, one-time Dean of the College of Min ...
, 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 ) of the San Francisco Bay , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_name1 = California , subdivision_type2 ...
, 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 a
this USGS webpage


External links

*
UC Berkeley – Lawson Biography

Guide to the Andrew C. Lawson Papers
at
The Bancroft Library The Bancroft Library in the center of the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, is the university's primary special-collections library. It was acquired from its founder, Hubert Howe Bancroft, in 1905, with the proviso that it retai ...

The Lawson House


Exploratorium
National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Andrew Cowper 1861 births 1952 deaths Scottish geologists Scottish emigrants to Canada Canadian emigrants to the United States Geological Survey of Canada personnel Johns Hopkins University alumni University of Toronto alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty Penrose Medal winners People from Anstruther Writers from Berkeley, California Scientists from the San Francisco Bay Area 1906 San Francisco earthquake Presidents of the Geological Society of America Golden Gate Bridge