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 component; that is, gravity. — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share Image
What emerged, of course, was that the magnitude scale presupposed that all earthquakes were alike except for a constant scaling factor. And this proved to be closer to the truth than we expected. — 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
Nothing is less predictable than the development of an active scientific field. — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share
The rose does not bloom without thorns. True, but would that the thorns did not outlive the rose. — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share
Refining is inevitable in science when you have made measurements of a phenomenon for a long period of time. — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share
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
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
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
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
Magnitude may be compared to the power output in kilowatts of a [radio] broadcasting station; local intensity, on the Mercalli or similar scale, is… — 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
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
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
The most remarkable feature about the magnitude scale was that it worked at all and that it could be extended on a worldwide basis.… — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share
I suggested that we might compare earthquakes in terms of the measured amplitudes recorded at these stations, with an appropriate correction for distance. — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share
I was lucky because logarithmic plots are a device of the devil. — Charles Francis Richter Copy Share
