John Peter Buwalda

John Peter Buwalda
Born(1886-12-16)December 16, 1886
Zeeland, Michigan
DiedAugust 19, 1954(1954-08-19) (aged 67)
Frazier Park, California
EducationPh.D. in geology, University of California, Berkeley, 1915
Scientific career
FieldsGeology, seismology
WorkplacesCalifornia Institute of Technology
ThesisNew Mammalian Faunas from Miocene Sediments Near Tehachapi Pass in the Southern Sierre Nevada (1915)

John Peter Buwalda (December 16, 1886 – August 19, 1954) was an American geologist. For over 20 years, he was head of the geological sciences division at the California Institute of Technology. During 1951–52, he was president of the Seismological Society of America.

Biography

He was born in Zeeland, Michigan, the son of Peter John Buwalda and Eva née Takoma. His parents were Frisian immigrants from Witmarsum, Netherlands.[1] The town of Zeeland was originally settled by Dutch immigrants, including the Buwalda family.[2] His family moved to Yakima, Washington in 1897, where Buwalda attended grammar school and graduated from high school in 1905.[3]

He matriculated to University of Washington, where he undertook a broad program of academic study,[3] and Charles E. Weaver introduced him to the field of geology.[4] However, Buwalda did not complete a degree program at that institution. Following the death of a brother, and with a desire for broader experience, after two years of study he took time off. He worked at a newspaper,[3] the Coeur d'Alene mines of Idaho, and as a surveyor for the Northern Pacific Railway in the Cascade Range.[2]

In 1909, Buwalda enrolled at the geology department of the University of California, Berkeley.[2] There he was mentored in paleontology by John C. Merriam and in geology by Andrew C. Lawson.[2] Buwalda was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity,[5] and received his B.S. with honors in 1912.[2] He performed graduate studies at the same institution, mapping Miocene units in the Tehachapi Range.[4] In 1915, he was awarded a Ph.D.[6] with a dissertation titled, New Mammalian Faunas from Miocene Sediments Near Tehachapi Pass in the Southern Sierre Nevada. Buwalda joined the California Academy of Sciences in 1915 (and was elected a fellow in 1921).[7]

Career

Buwalda stayed at Berkeley for two more years in the only job then available: teaching meteorology in the department of geography.[3] During this time, he tought physiography, from which he gained a life-long interest in geomorphology.[6][4][8] In 1917, he married Berkeley law school graduate Imra Wann,[2] and joined the geology faculty at Yale University as an assistant professor the same year.[8] The couple would have four children:[2] Peter John, May Joan, William John, and Robert John.[3] After the US entered World War 1, Buwalda worked for the United States Geological Survey assessing strategic materials.[4] After four years at Yale, he returned to the University of California in 1921 as associate professor and Dean of Summer Sessions.[1][4]

In 1925, the Carnegie Corporation voted to grant the California Institute of Technology $25,000 to start a program in geology. Buwalda was invited to head up the school's graduate program in geology, to which he accepted.[9] As chairman of the Division of Geological Sciences,[10][3] he assembled the program staff, while implementing study and research programs in geology, paleontology, and geophysics.[11] As part of his curriculum, he required undergraduates to take two summer field camps, as well as a year-long field course.[4] Buwalda supervised the addition of two laboratories to the campus, Charles Arms and Seeley W. Mudd,[11] which were dedicated in 1939.[3] As a result of his efforts, during the decade from 1929 to 1939, Caltech ranked sixth in the US in the number of doctorates awarded in the geological sciences.[3]

During World War 2, many of the department staff were away and so Buwalda had to carry much of teaching burden on his own. In addition he was severely ill for a time.[3] In 1947, Buwalda requested to resign his post as chair so that he could spend more time on research. He would continue his teaching duties up until the time of his death.[10]

Besides education, Buwalda led a prominent career as a consultant.[11] From 1928 until 1954, he served on the Yosemite National Park board of advisors.[3] In 1931, he was president of the Cordilleran Section of the Geological Society of America,[3] after serving as treasurer during 1923–1927.[12] For the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, he performed geological surveys of dams and tunnels for the Colorado River Aqueduct. In San Francisco, he advised on the seismic safety of the East Bay Bridge for the State Highway Division. He spent 30 years working to sway the public in California of the need for earthquake-resistant structures.[10][6] During 1951–52, he was named president of the Seismological Society of America, succeeding Frank Neumann in the office.[13] Following the 1952 Kern County earthquake, he spent the summer of that year examining the underlying structures and mapping the surface rupture features.[4]

He died in 1954 while on a field trip with his son Robert to Frazier Mountain park in California.[14][4]

Publications

He contributed to the following publications:

References

  1. 1 2 Marquis, Albert Nelson, ed. (1930), Who's who in America, vol. 16, A. N. Marquis, p. 444.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 John P. Buwalda and Imra Wann Buwalda Papers, 1907-1981, University of California, retrieved 2026-08-02.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Campbell, Ian (1955), "John Peter Buwalda (1886-1954)", The American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 39 (1): 141–44, retrieved 2026-08-03.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rogers, J. David, John P. Buwalda (1886-1954) (PDF), History of AES Special Publications, Association of Environmental & Engineering Geologists, retrieved 2026-08-02.
  5. ↑ The Record of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, vol. 35, March 1915, p. 240.
  6. 1 2 3 "The Summer at Caltech", Caltech Magazine, Engineering and Science, 18 (1): 18, October 1954, retrieved 2026-08-02.
  7. ↑ California Academy of Sciences, April 1, 1921, p. 31.
  8. 1 2 Cattell, James McKeen; Cattell, Jaques, eds. (1921), American Men of Science: A Biographical Directory, vol. 3, Bowker.
  9. ↑ Goodstein, Judith (2020), Millikan's School: A History of the California Institute of Technology, Plunkett Lake Press.
  10. 1 2 3 John P. Buwalda, In Memoriam, Caltech Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, retrieved 2026-08-02.
  11. 1 2 3 "A Brief History of the Seismo Lab", Seismo Life, retrieved 2026-08-02.
  12. ↑ Stout, Dorothy L. (1999), "Early history of the Cordilleran section", in Moores, Eldridge M.; Sloan, Doris; Stout, Dorothy L. (eds.), Classic Cordilleran Concepts: A View from California, Geological Society of America Special Paper, vol. 338, Geological Society of America, p. 20, ISBN 978-0-8137-2338-9.
  13. ↑ Presidents of the Society, Seismological Society of America, retrieved 2024-03-01.
  14. ↑ Dr. John Buwalda Earthquake Expert, The New York Times, August 21, 1954, retrieved 2026-08-02.

Further reading

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