The Caltech Seismological Laboratory is an arm of the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences of the California Institute of Technology.
Known as "the Seismo Lab", it has been a world center for seismology research since the 1920s, and was for many decades a go-to source for rapid (and quotable) commentary to the press on large earthquakes.
The Seismo Lab was established under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington in 1921 under leadership of Harry O.
[1] Requiring accessible bedrock on which to place seismometers, the Seismo Lab could not originally be located on the Caltech campus, which is on alluvium.
[3]) The horizontal tunnel in which seismometers were installed was a former passageway (with private elevator) between the mansion and the lower tennis courts.