Andrew Lawson

{{short description|Canadian geologist}} {{other people}} {{more footnotes needed|date=June 2017}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox scientist |name = Andrew Lawson |image = Andrew Cowper Lawson.jpg |image_size = |caption = Lawson c. 1922 |birth_date = {{birth date|1861|07|25}} |birth_place = Anstruther, Scotland |death_date = {{death date and age|1952|06|16|1861|07|25}} |death_place = Alameda County, California, U.S. |residence = |citizenship = |ethnicity = |field = Geology |work_institutions = University of California, Berkeley |alma_mater = |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = Report on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |influences = |influenced = |prizes = Hayden Memorial Geological Award {{small|(1935)}}<br>Penrose Medal <small>(1938)</small> |religion = |footnotes = |signature = }} '''Andrew Cowper Lawson'''<ref>{{Cite book|title=Andrew C. Lawson: scientist, teacher, philosopher|last=Vaughan|first=Francis E.|date=1970|publisher=A.H. Clark|isbn=978-0870620973|location=Glendale, CA|oclc=133498}}</ref> (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.

==Biography== Lawson was born on July 25, 1861,<ref name=Louderback>{{Cite Q| Q66986765|author=Louderback, George D.|pages=188|author-link=George Louderback}}</ref> in Anstruther, Scotland.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2005 |title=Andrew Cowper Lawson (1861–1952) |url=http://eps.berkeley.edu/alumni/lawson.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901124832/http://eps.berkeley.edu/alumni/lawson.php |archive-date=2006-09-01 |website=Earth & Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley}}</ref> 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.<ref name=Louderback /> 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,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-09 |title=Andrew Cowper Lawson |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/andrew-cowper-lawson |access-date=2023-08-16 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref> the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1924,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Andrew C. Lawson |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001517.html |access-date=2023-08-16 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref> and the American Philosophical Society in 1925.<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Andrew+C.+Lawson&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2023-08-16 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He was president of the Geological Society of America in 1926.<ref>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.</ref><ref>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}}.</ref>

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.<ref name=mccoy>{{cite book | last =McCoy | first =Esther | author-link =Esther McCoy | title =Five California Architects | publisher =Reinhold Publishing Corporation | year =1960 | location =New York | asin=B000I3Z52W | page =20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-19 |title=A Tale of Two Houses |url=http://modernmag.com/a-tale-of-two-houses/ |access-date=2023-07-03 |website=Modern Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> The house is an official city designated Berkeley Landmark.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Berkeley Landmarks, Designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Berkeley, CA |url=http://berkeleyheritage.com/berkeley_landmarks/landmarks1-100.html |website=Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA)}}</ref>

The mineral Lawsonite is named for him, as is the Lawson Adit, originally a mining construction research tunnel on UC Berkeley's campus.

Lawson Peak (elev. 13,165 feet) in Sequoia National Park was officially named after him in 1976.<ref name="gnis">{{cite gnis|id=252152|name=Lawson Peak|access-date=July 16, 2025}}</ref> Lawson Hill (elev. 1,128 feet), located west of the Briones Hills in Contra Costa County, California, is named for him.

==References == {{reflist}} * ''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 [https://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/1906/18april/references.php this USGS webpage].

==External links== * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Andrew Lawson |sopt=t}} * [http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf400003j0/ Guide to the Andrew C. Lawson Papers] at The Bancroft Library * [http://www.exploratorium.edu/faultline/great/science.html Mary K. Miller]: Exploratorium * [https://web.archive.org/web/20150723004358/http://www.britannia.com/celtic/scotland/greatscots/l1.html Great Scots: Lawson] *[http://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/lawson-andrew-c.pdf National Academy of Sciences Biographical Memoir]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawson, Andrew Cowper}} Category:1861 births Category:1952 deaths Category:Scottish geologists Category:Immigrants to Canada Category:Geological Survey of Canada personnel Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni Category:University of Toronto alumni Category:University of California, Berkeley faculty Category:Penrose Medal winners Category:People from Anstruther Category:Writers from Berkeley, California Category:Scientists from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:1906 San Francisco earthquake Category:Presidents of the Geological Society of America Category:Golden Gate Bridge Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society Category:British emigrants to the United States