Galvanometer Test Set (WWSSN)
date: label: date made
content: 1961-1962
name: label: maker
content: General Electric Company
notes: label: Description
content: Each of the 120 stations in the World Wide Standard Seismological Network used an instrument of this sort to test the sensitivity of its galvanometers. This one is marked “Geotech / Model 8431 / Galvo Test Set / Microamperes / Mfd by General Electric Co.” It was used at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
label: Description
content: Established in the early 1960s, the WWSSN was a key component of VELA Uniform, a Cold War project that was funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), a branch of the Department of Defense. The WWSSN was designed to detect underground nuclear tests and generate valuable information about the earth’s interior and its dynamic processes. It was managed by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey and then by the U.S. Geological Survey. That agency transferred this instrument to the Smithsonian in 1999.
label: Description
content: Ref: United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, <i>Instrumentation of the World-Wide Seismograph System, Model 10700</i> (Washington, D.C., 1962).
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: related event
content: Cold War
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
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content: Seismographs
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content: Science & Mathematics
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content: Measuring & Mapping
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: U.S. Geological Survey
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1999.0275.11
label: accession number
content: 1999.0275
label: catalog number
content: 1999.0275.11
objectType: label: Object Name
content: galvanometer test set
label: Object Name
content: seismic station, galvanometer test set
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 18.5 cm x 10 cm x 11 cm; 7 9/32 in x 3 15/16 in x 4 11/32 in