CONNECTIONS The EERI Oral History Series George W Housner CONNECTIONS The EERI Oral History Series George W. Housner Stanley Scott, Interviewer Earthquake Engineering Research Institute Editor: Gail H. Shea, Albany, CA Cover and book design: Laura Moger Graphics, Moorpark, CA Copyright 0 1997 by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. No part may be reproduced, quoted, or transmitted in any form without the written permission of the Executive Director of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute or the Director of the Bancroft Library of the University of California at Berkeley. Requests for permission to quote for publication should include identification of the specific passages to be quoted, anticipated use of the passages, and identification of the user. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the oral history subject and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute or the University of California. Published by the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute 499 14th Street, Suite 320 Oakland, CA 94612-1934 Tel: (510) 451-0905 Fax: (510) 451-5411 E-Mail: [email protected] Web site: http://www.eeri.org EERI Publication No. OHS-4 ISBN 0-943 198-58-5 (pbk.) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-PublicationData Housner, G.W. (George William), 1910- George W. Housner/Stanley Scott, Interviewer. P. cm. - (Connections: the EERI oral history series : 4) Includes index. ISBN 0-943 198-58-5 (alk. Paper) 1. Housner, G. W. (George William), 1910- -Interviews. 2. Civil engineers-California-Interviews. 3. Earthquake engineering-California-History. 4. Earthquake resistant design -History. I. Scott, Stanley, 192 1- . 11. Earthquake Engineering Research Institute. 111. Series TA140.H68A3 1997 624.1’762’092-dc2 1 PI 97-17122 CIP Printed in the United States of America 12345678 02 01 00 99 98 97 Acknowledgments The help, encouragement, and editorial feedback of EERI executive director Susan K. Tubbesing and the EERI Board of Directors were instrumental in both establishing Connections: The EERI Oral History Series and in bringing this volume to publication. Quite a number of readers looked over all or parts of the oral history, and provided valuable advice and suggestions. Those who commented include Clarence Allen, Bruce Bolt, Ray Clough, Jim Gates, John Hall, Don Hudson, I.M. Idriss, Bill Iwan, Roy Johnston, Frank McClure, Joe Penzien, Vernon Persson, Clarkson Pinkham, Roland Sharpe, and Tony Shakal, among others. EERI also gratefully acknowledges partial funding of this project by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The EERI Oral Historv Series J This is the fourth volume in Connections: The EERl Oral History Series. The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute initiated this series to preserve the recollections of some of those who have pioneered in earthquake engineering and seismic design. The field of earthquake engineering has undergone significant, even revolutionary, changes since indi- viduals first began thinking about how to design structures that would survive earthquakes. The engineers who led in making these changes and shaped seismic design theory and practice have fascinating stories. Connections: The EERl Oral History Series is a vehicle for transmitting their impressions and experiences, their reflections on the events and individu- als that influenced their thinking, their ideas and theories, and their recollections of the ways in which they went about solving problems that advanced the practice of earthquake engi- neering. These reminiscences are themselves a vital contribution to our understanding of the development of seismic design and earthquake hazard reduction. The Earthquake Engineer- ing Research Institute is proud to have part of that story be told in Connections. The oral history interviews on which Connections is based were initiated and are being carried out by Stanley Scott, formerly a research political scientist at the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, who has himself for many years been active in and written on seismic safety policy and earthquake engineering. A member of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute since 1973, Scott was a commissioner on the California State Seismic Safety Commission for 18 years, from 1975 to 1993. In 1990, Scott received the Alfred E. Alquist Award from the Earthquake Safety Foundation. Recognizing the historical importance of the work that earthquake engineers and others have been doing, Scott began recording interviews in 1984 with Henry Degenkolb. The wealth of information obtained from these interviews led him to consider initiating an oral history project on earthquake engineering and seismic safety policy, and in due course, the Regional Oral History Office of the Bancroft Library approved such an oral history project on a continuing, but unfunded, basis. First undertaken while Scott was employed by the Institute of Governmental Studies, University of California at Berkeley, the effort was continued following his retirement in 1989. For a time, modest funding for some expenses was provided by the National Science Foundation. Scott’s initial effort with Degenkolb was extended to a number of other earthquake engineers who have been particularly active and close observers of seismic safety policy and practice. vii Key members of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute became interested in the project when asked to read and advise on the oral history transcripts. This led to EERI’s decision to publish Connections. The Earthquake Engineering Research Institute was established in 1949 as a membership organization to encourage research, investigate the effects of destructive earthquakes and the causes of building failures, and bring research scientists and practicing engineers together to solve challenging engineering problems through exchange of information, research results, and theories. In many ways, the development of seismic design is part of the history of EERI. EERI Oral History Series Henry J. Degenkolb 1994 John A. Blume 1994 Michael V. Pregnoff and John E. Rinne 1996 George W. Housner 1997 Interviews completed or nearing completion include: William W. Moore Robert E. Wallace Clarence R. Allen LeRoy Crandall Ralph McLean George A. (Art) Sedgwick Interviews with several others are in progress. viii Table of Contents Acknowledgments V The EERI Oral History Series vii Foreword xi ... A Personal Introduction by Paul C. Jennings xlll Chapter 1 Early Years to World War I1 1 Chapter 2 World War I1 15 Chapter 3 History of Response Spectra 23 Chapter 4 Early Leaders in Earthquake Engineering 37 Chapter 5 Caltech Earthquake Engineering Group 47 Chapter 6 Earthquake History and Reporting 55 Chapter 7 Records of Earthquake Motion 67 Chapter 8 Development of Seismic Codes 89 Chapter 9 Earthquake Engineering and Seismic Design 107 Chapter 10 Seismologists and Earthquake Engineers 119 Chapter 11 Structural Engineers Association 125 Chapter 12 Earthquake Engineering Research Institute 131 Chapter 13 UCEER and CUREe: Organizing Academic Researchers 145 Chapter 14 Major Subjects of Investigation 151 Chapter IS State Water Project, Canals, Dams 167 Chapter 16 Inquiry into the Lorna Prieta Earthquake 173 Chapter 17 The Northridge and Kobe Earthquakes 187 Chapter 18 National and International Activities 199 Chapter 19 Recent Activities and Observations 2 13 Chapter 20 Discussion of Selected Publications 225 ix Chapter 2 1 Nonprofessional Interests 239 Chapter 22 Closing Comments 247 Photographs 251 Index 259 X Foreword The many interviews with George W. Housner that are the source of this oral history were all recorded at the Athenaeum, the monumental faculty club on the campus of the California Institute of Technology, during an eight-year period from December 1987 to March 1995. We met approximately once or twice a year during my visits to the Los Angeles area. At first, Professor Housner probably did not know quite what to make of me and the oral history project, but he always seemed willing to sit with me for an hour or so when I happened to be in the area. In time, as the interview files began to grow, and when his own retirement and activity shifts permitted, he began to have more time for the project and for work on the interview drafts. Revisions, additions, and editing were done during 1995-1997. When George Housner tackled that part of the job, he did it with great care and thoroughness, as well as a skilled proofreader’s eye. Some reorganization was done, although not a great deal, save for some shifting and weaving material together to consolidate overlapping discussions and reduce duplication. Many additions were also made during the final three years, after the interviews per se were completed, for example, the chapter on Housner’s writings and publications. The end result of the process, now being published by EERI, provides a unique record of a distinguished scholar, elder statesman, and activist in earthquake engineering research and seismic safety. This oral history account follows him from his early days in Saginaw, Michi- gan, through his schooling in Michigan and Caltech, a five-year stint in engineering practice, the World War I1 years, and joining