Charles f richter biography

Charles F. Richter (1900-1985) was one of the developers of the Richter Scale which is used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes.

Charles F. Richter is remembered every time an earthquake happens. With German-born seismologist Beno Gutenberg, Richter developed the scale that bears his name and measures the magnitude of earthquakes. Richter was a pioneer in seismological research at a time when data on the size and location of earthquakes were scarce. He authored two textbooks that are still used as references in the field and are regarded by many scientists as his greatest contribution, exceeding the more popular Richter scale. Devoted to his work all his life, Richter at one time had a seismograph installed in his living room, and he welcomed queries about earthquakes at all hours.

Charles Francis Richter was born on April 26, 1900, on a farm near Hamilton, Ohio, north of Cincinnati. His parents were divorced when he was very young. He grew up with his maternal grandfather, who moved the family to Los Angeles in 1909. Richter went to a preparatory school associated with the University of Southern California, where he spent his freshman year in college. He then transferred to Stanford University, where he earned an A.B. degree in physics in 1920.

Richter received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1928. That same year he married Lillian Brand of Los Angeles, a creative writing teacher. Robert A. Millikan, a Nobel Prizewinning physicist and president of Caltech, had already offered Richter a job at the newly established Seismological Laboratory in Pasadena, then managed by the Carnegie Institution of Washington. Thus Richter started applying his physics background to the study of the earth.

As a young research assistant, Richter made his name early when he began a decades-long collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, who was then the director of the laboratory. In the ear

A Brief Biography of

Charles F. Richter

April 26, 1900, to September 30, 1985

The Richter Scale is a commonly known term that has been used since the 1930’s to measure and compare the intensity of earthquakes. Richter, the person, is less well known, and not many people realize that he was born in Butler County, Ohio. Richter’s story is one of intense personal struggle and persistence in the face of great difficulties in order to achieve and lead a productive life.

Charles Richter was born April 26, 1900, the only son, and second child, of Lillian and Frederick Kinsinger. The farm where he was born, on Wehr Road near Overpeck, was the Richter’s family farm where his mother Lillian grew up and remained even after she married. Charles’ parents were not happy and had divorced after their first child Margaret was born. About eight years later they married again and that is when Charles was born. But before Charles was two, his parents divorced again and his father, Frederick Kinsinger, eventually remarried.

Charles grew up having few memories of his father, and those were negative. His mother, grandfather, and much older sister dominated Charles’ life on the farm. His mother was his teacher and she taught him three languages at the same time: German, French, and English. Charles’ grandfather had a number of old books and Charles loved to read about science and nature. He showed an early interest in astronomy and was allowed to stay outside late into the night to gaze at the stars.

Grandpa Richter heard about the many opportunities in the relatively new state of California and moved the family there in 1909. Charles’ first experience in school was emotionally bruising. He was awkward, did not know how to make friends, and was a target of teasing. We know today that he probably hadAsperger’s Syndrome, a condition that is characterized by a lack of social know-how, but which is oftentimes accompanied by unusual intellectual capabilities. Charles’ mother d

Seismologist and physicist (born 1900)

Charles Francis Richter (; April 26, 1900 – September 30, 1985) was an American seismologist and physicist. He is the namesake and one of the creators of the Richter scale, which, until the development of the moment magnitude scale in 1979, was widely used to quantify the size of earthquakes. Inspired by Kiyoo Wadati's 1928 paper on shallow and deep earthquakes, Richter first used the scale in 1935 after developing it in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg; both worked at the California Institute of Technology.

Childhood and education

Richter was born in Overpeck, Ohio. Richter had German heritage: his great-grandfather was a Forty-Eighter, coming from Baden-Baden (today in Baden-Württemberg, Germany) in 1848 in the wake of the German revolutions of 1848–1849. Richter's parents Frederick William and Lillian Anna (Kinsinger) Richter, were divorced when he was very young. He grew up with his maternal grandfather, who moved the family (including his mother) to Los Angeles in 1909. After graduating from Los Angeles High School he attended Stanford University and received his undergraduate degree in 1920. In 1928, he began work on his PhD in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology, but, before he finished it, he was offered a position at the Carnegie Institute of Washington. At this point, he became fascinated with seismology (the study of earthquakes and the waves they produce in the earth). Thereafter, he worked at the new Seismological Laboratory in Pasadena, under the direction of Beno Gutenberg. In 1932, Richter and Gutenberg developed a standard scale to measure the relative sizes of earthquake sources, called the Richter scale. In 1937, he returned to the California Institute of Technology, where he spent the rest of his career, eventually becoming professor of seismology in 1952.

Career

Richter went to work at the Carnegie Insti

Charles Richter was a physicist and seismologist who created a system of measuring earthquake magnitudes now known as the Richter Scale. Raised first in Ohio and then in southern California, Richter graduated with a degree in physics from Stanford University in 1920, and earned his doctorate from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1928. He worked at Caltech’s Seismological Laboratory between 1927 and 1935, and collaborated with Beno Gutenberg on a scale that interpreted seismograph readings to measure the magnitude of earthquakes. The Richter Scale (a term he did not use himself) was publicized in 1935 and was specific to southern California, but was applied soon after to worldwide seismological events and became the scientific standard. Charles Richter was a professor of seismology at Caltech from 1937 to 1970, then spent the rest of his career as a consultant.

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