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THE BIRTH of MODERN SEISMOLOGY in the NINETEENTH and TWENTIETH CENTURIES Author(S): Johannes Schweitzer Source: Earth Sciences History , 2007, Vol

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THE BIRTH of MODERN SEISMOLOGY in the NINETEENTH and TWENTIETH CENTURIES Author(S): Johannes Schweitzer Source: Earth Sciences History , 2007, Vol THE BIRTH OF MODERN SEISMOLOGY IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES Author(s): Johannes Schweitzer Source: Earth Sciences History , 2007, Vol. 26, No. 2 (2007), pp. 263-279 Published by: History of Earth Sciences Society Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24138817 REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24138817?seq=1&cid=pdf- reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Earth Sciences History This content downloaded from 86.59.13.237 on Thu, 08 Jul 2021 13:58:01 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms THE BIRTH OF MODERN SEISMOLOGY IN THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTIETH CENTURIES Johannes Schweitzer NORSAR, P.O. Box 53, N-2027 Kjeller, Norway ([email protected]) ABSTRACT The earliest seismic instruments were seismoscopes, which could only indicate that a ground shaking had occurred. Modern seismology started in the late 19th century when, mostly in Italy, Japan, Russia, and Germany, seismic instruments were developed, which were able to record ground movements as function of time and orientation. During the decade before World War I, the fundamental development of seismic instruments was completed with seismograph systems of high resolution in time and enough sensitivity to record the most important seismic phases. Since seismic waves traverse the whole Earth and do not stop at political borders, the seismological discoveries Earth Sciences History, were only possible after developing new structures for international ly v. 26, no. 2, 2007, organized data exchange and cooperation. In parallel to instrumental pp. 263-280. and organizational developments, seismologists had to learn the principles of seismic wave propagation in a solid body based on elasticity and ray theory. A stepwise deciphering of seismic wave speeds inside the Earth for the different seismic phase types led to the discovery of the basic structure of our planet consisting of crust, mantle and a core divided in two parts. SEISMIC INSTRUMENTATION AT THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY The birth of modern seismology is strongly correlated with the development of instruments that were able to measure the movement of the Earth during and after an earthquake with reasonable accuracy in time and amplitude. At the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, many different instruments to detect ground movements were built by different scientists in Europe. However, these instruments were not able to write permanent recordings of the ground shakings and could not resolve changes in time of such movements. They were just able to indicate that ground shaking had happened, eventually combined also with a clock indicating at what time the shaking started. A good overview of the different types of these instruments called seismoscopes can be found e.g. in Dewey and Byerly (1969) or Ferrari (1990). The situation began to change in the middle of the 19th century when Johann Karl Friedrich Hengler (1806-1858) described for the first time a horizontal pendulum (Hengler 1832). A sketch of his proposed instrument is shown in Figure 1. Almost four decades later, the astronomer and physicist Forenz Zöllner (1806-1882) invented again such a pendulum but also built it as a real instrument and proposed its usage as seismometer (Zöllner 1869, 1871, 1872). Contrary to Hengler, Zöllner also built his horizontal pendulum (Figure 2) and made measurements of ground movements in the This content downloaded from 86.59.13.237 on Thu, 08 Jul 2021 13:58:01 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 264 Johannes Schweitzer Kig. i1. Ti—fo —tr =■*—T a.B X \ 1 M m y- -< ../» • Figure 1. This sketchfrom Hengler 's publication (Hengler 1832) shows the principle structure of his proposed horizontal pendulum. The mass (B) should move along the axes A-H, which is slightly tilted against the vertical. There is no proof that Hengler ever built such an instrument. Figure 2. A picture of the Zöllner pendulum as published by its inventor (Zöllner 1871). The pendulum mass made of lead (A) hangs between the two anchor points c and c' andfreely swings when the ground is moving. This content downloaded from 86.59.13.237 on Thu, 08 Jul 2021 13:58:01 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Birth of Modern Seismology in 19th and 20th centuries 265 Will 1/1/ Ï \ Yh mn I /I \ ! / flu I/ft h iatssa—» I ml \I l uw fyllMvlU IM / t.s. LSUiiiSlSkSS Ä_a5LSlS£ T YAAJ1 vA^Mwrrp fWrwm7^wWW_ *>_ Mhgm <*> >**«■ ■ *** <T/> j rS^r>ir7ZljtSSL , ..i :Iv < ;C1<< <-< ■'- >- I ÛM-tOtA/fM~ ~~ >* ét ''»-»/•* «H M- P90-9J* * o^M^XX/UAJUOjioUAMc^^S^^ jT^H Figure S. One of the first seismograms recorded with a Cecchi pendulum in Manila, Philippines (Saderra Maso 1895). Each line represents an extra earthquake observation where the signal starts on the right side. basement of his institute. In parallel, researchers in Italy worked on improvements of seismoscopes and earliest seismometers. Today it is assumed that it was Padre Filippo Cecchi ( 1822-1887), who built the first seismograph (see e.g. Dewey and Byerly 1969; Ferrari 1990,1992), which during the late 1860s was in use e.g. at the Jesuit observatory in Manila, Philippines (Saderra-Masô 1895). Seismograms recorded in Manila are shown in Figure 3. SEISMIC INSTRUMENTS IN THE LATE NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY A breakthrough in inventing earthquake recording instruments came, when a group of British experts around the seismologist John Milne (1850-1913) (Hoover 1912; Kövesligethy 1914; Herbert-Gustar and Nott 1980; McCooey 1995) in Japan developed different kinds of horizontal and vertical pendulums, and when the astronomer Ernst Ludwig August von Rebeur-Paschwitz ( 1861-1895) (Davison 1895; Eschenhagen 1895; Gerland 1895, 1896, 1898; Hurtig 1981; Schweitzer 2003a) built his first horizontal pendulum in Karlsruhe, Germany. A detailed description of these early instruments to observe, measure, or record seismic waves can be found e.g., in Ehlert (1898), Berlage (1930), Dewey and Byerly (1969), or Ferrari (1990, 1992). Figure 4 shows the records of a local earthquake made by Milne in Japan on 11 March 1882. This content downloaded from 86.59.13.237 on Thu, 08 Jul 2021 13:58:01 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms 266 Johannes Schweitzer / 2S 19 09 6S -- \ \ \ / I I M M \ \ \ \ Figure 4. Seismograms recorded by J. Milne inJapan (Milne 1883). The two traces show the horizontal ground movement of a local earthquake recorded in north-south (outer trace) and in east-west (inner trace) direction with time running clockwise. Rebeur-Paschwitz's instrument (Figure 5) was based on Zöllner's ideas (Rebeur Paschwitz 1892,1894a) but had some important improvements with respect to Zöllner's and Milne's constructions. Ernst von Rebeur-Paschwitz was educated as an astronomer, who started in 1886 the construction of his horizontal pendulum, when he worked at the astronomical observatory in Karlsruhe, Germany. His idea was to build an instrument to measure oscillations of the plumb line due to the influence of astronomical bodies. His instrument was not only sensitive for plumb line changes but also for horizontal accelerations of the ground. Recording a light beam reflected at a moving mass of only 42 grams (the horizontal pendulum) on photographic paper, he achieved an at that time large effective amplification of up to 295 for signal periods around the surface wave maximum; for comparison Milne's horizontal pendulum (see Figure 9) installed in the late 1890s in his house Shide, in Newport on the Isle of Wight, England had an effective amplification factor of about 50 (Abe 1994). With his pendulums, Rebeur-Paschwitz was the first who continuously recorded movements of the ground on photographic paper. This content downloaded from 86.59.13.237 on Thu, 08 Jul 2021 13:58:01 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms Birth of Modern Seismology in 1 9th and 20th centuries HorizontalHorizontal-Pendel. -Penclel. Figure 5. Rebeur-Paschwitz 's horizontal pendulum (Rebeur-Paschwitz 1892). Damping of a seismometer is essential in order to remove uncontrolled oscillatoric movements of the pendulum and thereby increase the time resolution for the different seismic onsets. Already in 1889, he started experiments with a viscous damping of the instrument and saw the advantages of clearer recordings (Rebeur-Paschwitz 1892). However, his entire scientific career was restricted by his illness and many of his ideas could not be investigated as deeply as he wanted. Because of his plan to measure real or apparent Earth movements due to the influence of astronomical bodies, he was especially interested in common signals at both places. It was also in 1889, when Rebeur-Paschwitz installed two identical instruments in Potsdam, Germany at the astrophysical observatory and at the marine observatory in Wilhelmshaven, Germany and recorded in parallel ground movements (Rebeur-Paschwitz 1892). Astronomical signals should be very similar at the two observatories about 240 km apart (Wilhelmshaven and Potsdam), but for this he had to rule out all other than astronomical explanations. Therefore, he consequently also looked for earthquakes as possible sources of unknown phenomena and by chance, he read a report about an earthquake in Tokyo, Japan on 17 April 1889 (Nature 1889), which had occurred just before his instruments at both observatories recorded unusual signals (Figure 6).
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