| Summary: | Geophysicist and seismologist Waverly Person was born in Blackridge, Virginia on May 1, 1926. Attending the high school of historically black Saint Paul's College in Lawrenceville, Virginia, he was drafted into Army as a high school senior in 1944. Serving in the Pacific during World War II and in the Korean War, he achieved the rank of first sergeant. After his B.S. degree in mathematics from Saint Paul's College, Person became interested in geophysics, working as a seismic monitoring technician. He studied at American University and George Washington University, becoming qualified as a geophysicist in 1965. Despite facing racism, he became a federal geophysicist in 1971. Person worked his way up to become the first African American chief scientist of the U.S. Geological Survey's National Earthquake Information Service in 1977 until his 2006 retirement. Person was active with the Seismological Society of America, Boulder County Crimestoppers, and Flatirons Kiwanis Club.
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