Macelwane, James B. S. J.

Macelwane, James B. (Bernard) S. J.

(1883–1956) seismologist; born near Port Clinton, Ohio. He took Jesuit vows (1905), joined the faculty of St. Louis University (1912–21), and performed seismological research at the University of California: Berkeley (1921–25) before returning to St. Louis (1925–56). His studies of earthquake waves, epicenters, the earth's micro-oscillations, and blast-induced vibrations were basic to the science of systematic seismology.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.