Jerry P. Eaton (December 11, 1926 – April 2, 2004) was an American

seismologist Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic ...

and

volcanologist A volcanologist, or volcano scientist, is a geologist who focuses on understanding the formation and eruptive activity of volcanoes. Volcanologists frequently visit volcanoes, sometimes active ones, to observe and monitor volcanic eruptions, col ...

who served as director of the

Hawaiian Volcano Observatory The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) is an agency of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and one of five volcano observatories operating under the USGS Volcano Hazards Program. Based in Hilo, Hawaii on the Island of Hawaii, the obser ...

from , and as scientist-in-charge from . He was born in 1926, on a farm in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

's Central Valley near

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

. He died of cancer in 2004, aged 77, at his home in

Los Altos, California Los Altos (; Spanish language, Spanish for "The Heights") is a city in Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 31,625 according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Most of the city's growth ...

Education

Eaton has received two degrees from

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

; a 1949

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in physics, and a 1953

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in geophysics.

Career

Eaton began at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in 1953, after completing his Ph.D. During his time there, he was responsible for installing equipment to measure tremors from

Kīlauea Kīlauea ( , ) is an active shield volcano in the Hawaiian Islands. It is located along the southeastern shore of Hawaii (island), Hawaii Island. The volcano is between 210,000 and 280,000 years old and grew above sea level about 100,000 years ...

. The equipment he designed and installed were 5 to 10 times more sensitive than the seismographs already in use, and thus picked up more earthquakes for study. He is also credited with writing the first computer program to pinpoint locations of earthquakes. After his term as scientist-in-charge, he left the Observatory for the Geological Survey Crustal Studies Branch and went on to develop an earthquake monitoring system for the

Rocky Mountain The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of Western Canada, to New Mexico in ...

Great Plains The Great Plains is a broad expanse of plain, flatland in North America. The region stretches east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and grassland. They are the western part of the Interior Plains, which include th ...

region. He served as president of the

Seismological Society of America The Seismological Society of America (SSA) is an international Learned society, scientific society devoted to the advancement of seismology and the understanding of earthquakes for the benefit of society. Founded in 1906, the society has members ...

from . In 1960, he published a paper in the journal ''

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

'' titled "How Volcanoes Grow", which was later described in SFGATE as "a classic and the most authoritative paper on the subject".

References

External links

Jerry P. Eaton
publications on USGS ScienceBase-Catalog
Kilauea (Geologic Diagram)
1971, by Eaton; & Robert G. Schmidt {{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Jerry P. 1926 births 2004 deaths United States Geological Survey personnel People from Fresno, California University of California, Berkeley alumni American seismologists American volcanologists People from Los Altos, California