Introduction
In 1950, a small research project concerned with the application of the theory of time series to seismic data analysis was formed within the Mathematics Department of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This early work was pursued by Dr. E. A. Robinson and by Professor G. P. Wadsworth. The results of these studies were considered promising, and by 1952 a number of oil and geophysical exploration companies had been approached in order to determine their interest in supporting an expanded research program in this area. Eventually a group of these companies agreed to participate in such an effort, and in February 1953 the MIT Geophysical Analysis Group (GAG) was organized within the Department of Geology and Geophysics. Full participation in the activities of the GAG was open at any time to all interested companies. All members provided annual financial support, and a number of them furnished the GAG with data for analysis.