Jerry P. Eaton (December 11, 1926 – April 2, 2004) was an American seismologist and volcanologist who served as director of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory from 1956–58, and as scientist-in-charge from 1960–61.
[2] He died of cancer in 2004, aged 77, at his home in Los Altos, California.
[4] Eaton began at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory in 1953, after completing his Ph.D. During his time there, he was responsible for installing equipment to measure tremors from Kīlauea.
[5] The equipment he designed and installed were 5 to 10 times more sensitive than the seismographs already in use, and thus picked up more earthquakes for study.
[5] After his term as scientist-in-charge, he left the Observatory for the Geological Survey Crustal Studies Branch and went on to develop an earthquake monitoring system for the Rocky Mountain-Great Plains region.