Charles Richter

Charles Francis Richter was an American seismologist who developed the Richter magnitude scale with Beno Gutenberg to quantify earthquake size from seismic recordings.

Beno Gutenberg: A German-American seismologist who collaborated with Charles Richter on earthquake magnitude and Earth’s interior. Gutenberg co-developed the magnitude scale with Richter at Caltech.
Richter magnitude scale: A logarithmic scale originally defined to measure local earthquake magnitudes from seismic-wave amplitudes. This is the measurement method Richter developed with Gutenberg.
Moment magnitude scale: A logarithmic earthquake scale based on seismic moment, including fault area, slip, and rock rigidity. It handles great earthquakes more consistently than Richter’s original local scale.
Earthquake magnitude: A logarithmic measure of the size of an earthquake, estimated from seismic observations. Richter helped establish magnitude as a quantitative way to compare earthquake sources.
Harry O. Wood: An American seismologist who helped establish instrumental earthquake monitoring in Southern California. Wood’s seismographs supplied the records that shaped Richter’s local magnitude scale.
Local magnitude: An earthquake magnitude estimate based on the logarithm of a measured seismic-wave amplitude, corrected for distance. It formalizes Richter’s original method for Southern California earthquakes.
Mercalli intensity scale: A scale describing earthquake effects and damage at particular locations. Unlike Richter’s instrument-based magnitude, it measures observed shaking and impacts.
Seismic hazard: The probability of potentially damaging earthquake shaking at a location over a specified period. Magnitude measurements inform estimates of the earthquakes that contribute to local hazard.
Caltech Seismological Laboratory: A research institution founded in 1921 to study earthquakes and Earth’s structure. Richter and Gutenberg developed their scale while working at this laboratory.
Seismograph: An instrument that records ground motion caused by earthquakes and other vibrations. Richter’s magnitude calculation depended on amplitudes recorded by seismographs.

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