Most loss of life and property has been due to the collapse of antiquated and unsafe structures, mostly of brick and other masonry. ... There is progress of California toward building new construction according to earthquake-resistant design. We would have… — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
Emphasis was usually put on the horizontal acceleration factor, for the simple reason that ordinary structures have a built-in safety factor for the vertical… — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
Nothing is less predictable than the development of an active scientific field. — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
The rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the thorns did not outlive the rose. — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
Refining is inevitable in science when you have made measurements of a phenomenon for a long period of time. — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
As seismologists gained more experience from earthquake records, it became obvious that the problem could not be reduced to a single peak acceleration. In… — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
No joy in nature is so sublimely affecting as the joy of a mother at the good fortune of a child. — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
The laboratory routine, which involves a great deal of measurement, filing, and tabulation, is either my lifeline or my chief handicap, I hardly know… — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
I repeatedly have to correct this belief. In a sense, magnitude involves steps of 10 because every increase of one magnitude represents a tenfold… — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
Magnitude may be compared to the power output in kilowatts of a [radio] broadcasting station; local intensity, on the Mercalli or similar scale, is then comparable to the signal strength noted on a receiver at a given locality. Intensity, like signal strength, will generally fall off with distance from the source; it will also depend on local conditions at the… — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share
From here, it becomes an engineering problem; the engineer considers the ground motion that will occur and evaluates the requirements of the proposed structure… — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
If the assumptions used in calculating energy are changed, then this seriously affects the final result, even though the same body of data might… — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
There is another common misapprehension that the magnitude scale is itself some kind of instrument or apparatus. Visitors will frequently ask to 'see the… — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
