Charles Richter was a seismologist who developed the famous Richter Scale. Known as Richter’s magnitude scale, it measures the strength of earthquakes. The scale was first developed by Richter in 1935 in association with Beno Gutenberg.
Charles Francis Richter was born in Overpeck, Ohio on April 26th 1900. He studied physics at Stanford University and was awarded a PhD by the California Institute of Technology in 1928. Richter worked at the Carnegie Institute in Washington where the Richter scale was developed.
In 1937 Richter began teaching at the California Institute of Technology. He was appointed professor of seismology at Caltech in 1952. Apart from developing the Richter scale Richter developed building codes for buildings in areas prone to earthquakes.
Charles Richter, physicist and seismologist who developed the famous Richter scale in 1935, died aged 85 in the year 1985 On This Day.
Īnangahua Earthquake, 1968