Berkeley
[key], city (2020 pop. 124,321), Alameda co., W Calif., on the E shore of
San Francisco Bay just N of Oakland; inc. 1878. Originally (1820)
part of a Spanish rancho, the site was purchased by
Americans in 1853. The city's population increased significantly after it
was unaffected by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The main campus (1873)
of the Univ. of California and several divinity schools are there. The
campus was a focus of student unrest and the “counterculture”
in the 1960s and early 1970s, and home to the 1964 “Free
Speech” movement and continual conflict over control and use of
“People's Park.” There is diverse manufacturing, including lab
and medical instruments, fabricated metal products, construction materials,
machinery, and chemicals. The Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, a
scientific research center, is nearby. Berkeley experienced severe fires in
1923 and 1991.
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