Short-Period Galvanometer (WWSSN)
date: label: date made
content: 1961-1962
name: label: maker
content: Geotechnical Corporation
notes: label: Description
content: Each of the 120 stations in the World Wide Standard Seismological Network had three short-period galvanometers, one for each of its three short-period Benioff seismometers (such as 1999.0275.01 and 1999.0275.02). This example is marked “Geotechnical Corp. / Garland, Texas Stand / Model 8480 / 9799.” 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: Incorporated in 1936, the Geotechnical Corporation conducted research in and produced instruments for the earth sciences. The firm got into defense work after World War II, went public in 1962, and was bought by Teledyne in 1965.
label: Description
content: Ref: Hugo Benioff, “Electrical Recording Seismograph,” U.S. Patent 1,784,415 (1930).
label: Description
content: Hugo Benioff, “Earthquake Seismographs and Associated Instruments,” in H. E. Landsberg, ed., <i>Advances in Geophysics</i> (New York, 1955), vol. 2, p. 234.
label: Description
content: 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
place: label: place made
content: United States: Texas, Garland
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: 1999.0275.08
label: catalog number
content: 1999.0275.08
label: accession number
content: 1999.0275
objectType: label: Object Name
content: galvanometer
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 29 cm x 22.8 cm; 11 13/32 in x 8 31/32 in