Observatory Seismology: A Centennial Symposium for the Berkeley Seismographic Stations

The first effective seismographs were built between 1879 and 1890. In 1885, E. S. Holden, an astronomer and then president of the University of California, instigated the purchase of the best available instruments of the time "to keep a register of all earthquake shocks in order to be able to control the positions of astronomical instruments." These seismographs were installed two years later at Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton and at the Berkeley campus of the University. Over the years th...