Legends Of Seismology :: essays research papers

Legends in Our TimeSeismologists Scientists and MathematiciansBeno Gutenberg was the foremost empirical seismologist of the twentieth century. He combined exquisite analysis of seismic records with almighty analytical, interpretive, and modeling skills to contribute many important discoveries of the structure of the solid human beings and its atmosphere. Perhaps his best known contribution was the precise location of the core out of the Earth and the identification of its elastic properties. Other major contributions include the travel-time curves the baring of very long-period seismic waves with large amplitudes that circle the Earth the identification of differences in encrustational structure between continents and oceans, including the discovery of a significantly thin crust in the Pacific the discovery of a low-velocity layer in the mantelpiece (which he interpreted as the zone of decoupling of horizontal motions of the surficial split from the deeper parts of the Earth ) the creation of the magnitude scale for earthquakes the relation between magnitudes and energies for earthquakes the renowned universal magnitude-frequency relation for earthquake distributions the first density distribution for the cortex the study of the temperature distribution in the Earth the understanding of microseisms and the structure of the atmosphere. line of descent http//www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/biomems/bgutenberg.htmlInge Lemanns primary accomplishments dealt with discoveries about the Earths core. In 1936, she discovered that the Earth has a blue inner core. Then she "saw" the area where earthquake waves did not draw out through and reasoned that there must be an outer liquefiable core and an inner solid core. She was the first president of the European seismological Commission. Lehmann was Denmarks only seismologist for two decades. And, in 1977, she became the first woman to be awarded the decoration of the Seismological Society of America.Sou rce http//www.physics.purdue.edu/wip/herstory/lehmann.htmlCharles Francis Richter started working at the Seismological science lab of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, based at Pasadena, California, in 1927. The following year, he was awarded a doctorate in theoretical physics by the Californian make for of Technology (Caltech). During the 1930s, Richter was tabulating over 200 earthquakes a year in gray California at Caltechs Seismological Laboratory. He wanted to devise a means of tasking them on an objective, quantitative basis. Measuring the amplitudes of seismic waves recorded on seismographs in southern California, Richter formulated a local magnitude scale, to assess the size of earthquakes occurring in the region.