Charles Francis Richter (Hamilton, 26 April 1900 – Pasadena, 30 September 1985) was an American physicist and seismologist who developed the first earthquake magnitude scale, a scientific method to measure earthquakes based on “magnitude”, that is, on the energy released during the seismic event.
Who was seismologist Charles Francis Richter?
Charles Francis Richter was born in Hamilton on 26 April 1900 and thanks to his very important contribution, today he is remembered as one of the most famous seismologists in the world.
Richter began working at the Carnegie Institute in 1927, where he began collaborating with Beno Gutenberg. Together, Richter and Gutenberg came up with the Richter Scale, a scale that would meet the need for an earthquake force measurement system based on the quantitative measurement of the displacements produced on the Earth by seismic waves. The two also designed a seismograph that measured these displacements and developed a logarithmic scale to measure their intensity. Gutenberg’s aversion to interviews caused his name to be left out of the scale’s name. The publication of the scale was proposed in 1935 and later many seismologists quickly adopted it to measure the intensity of earthquakes.
In 1952, Richter became a full-time professor at the California Institute of Technology and in 1958 published Elementary Seismology, based on his teaching notes.
Between 1959 and 1960, he moved to Japan as a researcher in a Fulbright Program. During this period, he became interested in seismic engineering and developed a building code for earthquake-prone areas. In the 1960s, the seismologist conducted awareness campaigns in the field of earthquake damage prevention in the city of Los Angeles. In fact, after the San Fernando earthquake in 1971, the city praised the warnings he gave, as they were crucial for preventing many deaths.
The Richter Scale
Unlike the Mercalli Scale, which measures intensity based on damage to artefacts and subjective human perception of the seismic phenomenon, the Richter Scale measures the energy released by the earthquake. In addition, while the Mercalli Scale can be applied by anyone based on seeing the effects of the earthquake, the Richter Scale can be applied in particular observatories by using special instruments called “seismographs”. The Richter Scale has no subdivisions into discrete intensities, and no lower or upper limit. It indicates the energy on a logarithmic scale and places the zero of the scale at the equivalent of energy of 100,000 joules. “Magnitude”, the word for this measurement comes from Richter’s childhood interest in astronomy; in fact, astronomers measure the brightness of stars in terms of magnitude. The Richter Scale allows you to quantitatively evaluate each earthquake, even those that do not cause easily seen effects, since they occur in impervious areas or on the bottom of the oceans.
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