Charles richter biography info for kids
Information for kids.
Date of Birth: April 26, 1900
Zodiac Sign: Taurus
Date of Death: April 20, 1985
Biography
Charles Francis Richter was an American seismologist and physicist who is best known for developing the Richter magnitude scale, which quantifies the size of earthquakes.
Born on April 26, 1900, in Hamilton, Ohio, Richter showed an early interest in science.
Charles richter biography info for kids
After his parents divorced, he moved to Los Angeles with his mother and maternal grandfather. He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from Stanford University in 1920 and then went on to receive his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1928.
Richter’s career in seismology began when he joined the Seismological Laboratory in Pasadena, California. It was here, alongside Beno Gutenberg, that he developed the Richter scale in 1935. This scale provided a logarithmic measure of an earthquake’s magnitude, making it easier to compare the energy released by different seismic events.