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Herbert Jones Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2010-004

Scope and Content

Tornadoes fascinated and intrigued Herbert L. Jones, an electrical engineering faculty member at the Oklahoma Agricultural & Mechanical College in Stillwater, but their power and destruction also scared him to death. As a young child living in Canada, while walking with his father one spring day on the Alberta prairie, a rapidly developing thunderstorm created a tornado that passed near the two. The terrifying experience remained etched in his memory for the remainder of his life and led Jones to a lifelong fascination with thunderstorms and to research that became the basis of modern tornado forecasting.

Dates

  • 1904 - 1973

Conditions Governing Access

he collection is open for research use. Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the Oklahoma Open Records Act (http://www.odl.state.ok.us/lawinfo/docs/2006-LibraryLaws-PartE.pdf), and other relevant regulations. Confidential material may include, but is not limited to, educational, medical, and personnel records. Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which Oklahoma State University Libraries assumes no responsibility.

Conditions Governing Use

The researcher assumes full responsibility for conforming with the laws of copyright. Whenever possible, Oklahoma State University Archives will provide information about copyright owners and related information. Securing permission to publish or use material is the responsibility of the researcher. Note that unless specifically transferred to Oklahoma State University Libraries, any applicable copyrights may be held by another individual or entity. Copyright for material published by Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College/Oklahoma State University is held by the Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges. All rights reserved.

Further information about copyright policy can be obtained by contacting Oklahoma State University Archives by email at libscua@okstate.edu or by phone at 405-744-6311.

Finding aid © 2020 Board of Regents for the Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical Colleges. All rights reserved.

Biographical Sketch

Born on December 2, 1904 in Grants, New Mexico, Jones grew up on a homestead in Alberta, Canada. His family bought a farm near Springfield, Oregon in 1920 and Jones completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Oregon in 1926. After graduation, he worked as an engineer for the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company in Portland, Oregon until 1929 when he took a position with Bell Telephone Laboratories, Inc. in New York. In 1932, he left Bell and worked as a private consultant in radio, electronics and sound. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees from Oregon State University in 1934 and 1935. He taught electrical engineering at the University of New Mexico before coming to OAMC in the fall of 1946.

During the first tornado season after Jones moved to Oklahoma an extremely destructive tornado killed almost one hundred people as it roared through Woodward, Oklahoma on April 9, 1947. In September of 1947, Jones met with the Director of the Engineering Experiment Station, Charles Dunn, to explore possibilities for the creation of a tornado warning system. This meeting led to the creation of a Tornado Lab Team that identified and predicted tornado development within a thunderstorm using radar and sferics data analysis.

Extent

0.2 Linear feet (1 slim document box)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Arrangement

Arranged into one series.

Location

For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog or contact the Oklahoma State University Archives Reference staff.

Provenance

Gift of David Peters

Related Archival Materials

OAMC-OSU Biographical Files 2005-022

Processing Information

Processed by Scott Jackson, January 19, 2010

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Herbert Jones Papers Collection Number 2010-004
Status
Completed
Author
Scott Jackson
Date
January 19th, 2010
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Oklahoma State University Archives Repository

http://info.library.okstate.edu/scua/home
Contact:
204 Edmon Low Library
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater 74078-1071 USA

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