List of Charles Francis Richter Quotes

The Usual Designation Of The Magnitude Scale To My Name Does Less Than Justice To The Great Part That Dr. Gutenberg Played In Extending The Scale To Apply To Earthquakes In All Parts Of The World.

[in Plotting Earthquake Measurements] The Range Between The Largest And Smallest Magnitudes Seemed Unmanageably Large. Dr. Beno Gutenberg Then Made The Natural Suggestion To Plot The Amplitudes Logarithmically.

Magnitude May Be Compared To The Power Output In Kilowatts Of A [radio] Broadcasting Station; Local Intensity, On The Mercalli Or Similar Scale, Is Then Comparable To The Signal Strength Noted On A Receiver At A Given Locality. Intensity, Like Signal Strength, Will Generally Fall Off With Distance From The Source; It Will Also Depend On Local Conditions At The Point Of Observation, And To Some Extent On The Conditions Along The Path From Source To That Point.

Lately There Have Been Complaints That The Use Of The Magnitude Scale Is Confusing, Or At Least The Reporting Of Magnitudes In The Newspapers 'confuses The Public.

The Laboratory Routine, Which Involves A Great Deal Of Measurement, Filing, And Tabulation, Is Either My Lifeline Or My Chief Handicap, I Hardly Know Which.

According To Democritus, Truth Lies At The Bottom Of A Well, The Water Of Which Serves As A Mirror In Which Objects May Be Reflected. I Have Heard, However, That Some Philosophers, In Seeking For Truth, To Pay Homage To Her, Have Seen Their Own Image And Adored It Instead.

If The Assumptions Used In Calculating Energy Are Changed, Then This Seriously Affects The Final Result, Even Though The Same Body Of Data Might Be Used.

If One Introduces The Concept Of Energy Of An Earthquake Then That Is A Theoretically Derived Quantity.

There Is Nothing More Beautiful Than Cheerfulness In An Old Face, And Among Country People It Is Always A Sign Of A Well-regulated Life.

Most Loss Of Life And Property Has Been Due To The Collapse Of Antiquated And Unsafe Structures, Mostly Of Brick And Other Masonry. ... There Is Progress Of California Toward Building New Construction According To Earthquake-resistant Design. We Would Have Less Reason To Ask For Earthquake Prediction If This Was Universal.

As Seismologists Gained More Experience From Earthquake Records, It Became Obvious That The Problem Could Not Be Reduced To A Single Peak Acceleration. In Fact, A Full Frequency Of Vibrations Occurs.

It Is Good To Have Measured Myself, To Recognize My Limitations.