Timelines of the Development of Seismology

Those interested in earthquakes, natural disasters and weather patterns may all be interested in timelines of the development of seismology. Much information on this subject, including the timelines for how seismology developed, can be found in The Brief History of Seismology by Peter Shearer and made available through Cambridge University Press including more details about the timeline of the development of seismology found below.

Seismology is known as the study of earthquakes and earth’s tectonic plate movements. Seismology has existed in one form or another since the early 1800s when the first major theory about seismology was created.

• The timeline of the development of the field of seismology begins in the 1700s and early 1800s, when people begin to be curious about earthquakes and other earth movements and begin to fabricate theories about these events. 
• One early theory put forth about seismology was known as the theory of elastic wave propagation in solids. This theory suggested that you can hit a solid object and waves of energy will travel through the object and cause movement; this was thought to be how an earthquake happens.

Mallet's Developments

In 1857, an Irish engineer and scientist named Mallet went to Naples, Italy to study the after effects of a large earthquake.  Mallet’s work created some of the earliest theories about seismology that were based on fact and study. His theories included:

• The idea that earthquakes move outward from a central focal point, and that, by locating the direction that the earthquake came from, the focal points could be located and studied. 
• Mallet also proposed the first earthquake monitoring system, suggesting that there should be observatories made that could study and monitor these earthquake activities and pinpoint where they were coming from and what might be causing them.

Seismograph

• The first seismograph, which is a piece of equipment that uses ink and paper to measure the severity and duration of an earthquake or other seismic event, was not developed for almost twenty years after Mallet's early work. It was first released in Italy. 

• This device was then replicated by scientists in Japan and England and, even though the original seismographic devices were not ideal for the type of work that they were doing, they did function and they were a rudimentary starting point allowing scientists to begin to study and understand earthquakes.
• In 1897, the first seismograph was installed in the United States, near San Francisco at the Lick Observatory.  This seismograph was able to record the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906, allowing for further study of this massive event. 
• Also in 1897, the first damper equipped seismograph was created, which allowed for continuous study of a single earthquake event. This was made possible because the vibrations of the device could be controlled by the damper mechanism. This was a huge step forward over previous seismographic devices because it allowed for longer term studies of earthquakes and their aftershocks without having to reset the devices.

So, now you have a timeline of the development of seismology and you know the early history of how the study of seismology came to be. Seismographs, which have evolved from these early efforts, are used today to help scientists better understand and predict earthquakes.