Robert Mallet, an Irishman born in 1810 at Ryders Row, off Capel Street, Dublin, is known as the father of seismology from experiments he carried out on Killiney Beach, County Dublin, to examine the velocities of energy passing through various materials including rocks. The experiments involved the detonation of kegs of gun powder buried in the sand and measuring the travel times of the shock waves at a distance of 0.5 miles. This was in fact the first “controlled source” seismological experiment ever to be performed in Ireland or anywhere else in the world. For more reading about the life of Robert Mallet please click here.
The BBC Coast Program invited the Geophysics Section to provide technical seismological support for the recreation of the Killiney Beach experiments that were carried out by Robert Mallet in October 1849. The programme will include a recording of the detonation of a small charge on the beach and its resulting shock wave registered by the DIAS data recorder. The program is due to be aired by the BBC sometime in Spring 2009.
Mallet graduated from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) with a degree in Natural Science in 1830 and went on to work in his fathers iron foundry in Capel Street, Dublin City, where he helped manufacture among other things, the very characteristic iron railings that surround Trinity College and which bear his family name at the base. A very active and prolific investigator in many branches of engineering and natural science, Mallet became interested in the phenomena of earthquakes and contributed many papers on the topic to Royal Irish Academy (RIA), and Royal Society of London (RSL).
He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy at the very early age of 22 in 1832. He enrolled in the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1835 which helped finance much of Mallet’s research in seismology.
On the 16th December, 1857, the area around Padula, Southern Italy, was devastated by a very strong earthquake in which 11,000 people were killed. At that time this earthquake was the 3rd largest known quake in the world and was reckoned to be 7.00 on the Richter Scale. Robert Mallet, with letters of support from Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin, petitioned the Royal Society of London and received a grant of 150 pounds sterling to go to Padula and record first hand the devastation that had occurred. The resulting report was presented to the RSL as the “Report on the Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857”. This was a major scientific work and made great use of the latest research tool of photography to record the devastation caused by the earthquake.
Related article: Science Spin September 2009 issue
In 1838 he became a life member of the Royal Geological Society of Ireland located in the Dublin Customs House and acted as its President from 1846-48.
He presented to the RIA his most significant paper on 9th February 1846 on earthquake dynamics.
He is also responsible for coining the word “seismology” and other related “seismo” words e.g. the isoseismal map, which he used in his research.
The RIA awarded Mallet the Cunningham medal for his research into the theory of earthquakes on15th March 1862. Ironically, Mallet’s first experience of an earthquake happened in Dublin in 1840’s.
He was awarded an honorary D. Litt. from TCD, and in 1877 the prestigious Wollaston Medal, the Geological Society of London highest honour.
Leave a Comment
Last Updated: 22nd March 2016 by Louise Collins
Robert Mallet
Robert Mallet, an Irishman born in 1810 at Ryders Row, off Capel Street, Dublin, is known as the father of seismology from experiments he carried out on Killiney Beach, County Dublin, to examine the velocities of energy passing through various materials including rocks. The experiments involved the detonation of kegs of gun powder buried in the sand and measuring the travel times of the shock waves at a distance of 0.5 miles. This was in fact the first “controlled source” seismological experiment ever to be performed in Ireland or anywhere else in the world. For more reading about the life of Robert Mallet please click here.
The BBC Coast Program invited the Geophysics Section to provide technical seismological support for the recreation of the Killiney Beach experiments that were carried out by Robert Mallet in October 1849. The programme will include a recording of the detonation of a small charge on the beach and its resulting shock wave registered by the DIAS data recorder. The program is due to be aired by the BBC sometime in Spring 2009.
Mallet graduated from Trinity College Dublin (TCD) with a degree in Natural Science in 1830 and went on to work in his fathers iron foundry in Capel Street, Dublin City, where he helped manufacture among other things, the very characteristic iron railings that surround Trinity College and which bear his family name at the base. A very active and prolific investigator in many branches of engineering and natural science, Mallet became interested in the phenomena of earthquakes and contributed many papers on the topic to Royal Irish Academy (RIA), and Royal Society of London (RSL).
He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy at the very early age of 22 in 1832. He enrolled in the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1835 which helped finance much of Mallet’s research in seismology.
On the 16th December, 1857, the area around Padula, Southern Italy, was devastated by a very strong earthquake in which 11,000 people were killed. At that time this earthquake was the 3rd largest known quake in the world and was reckoned to be 7.00 on the Richter Scale. Robert Mallet, with letters of support from Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin, petitioned the Royal Society of London and received a grant of 150 pounds sterling to go to Padula and record first hand the devastation that had occurred. The resulting report was presented to the RSL as the “Report on the Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857”. This was a major scientific work and made great use of the latest research tool of photography to record the devastation caused by the earthquake.
Related article: Science Spin September 2009 issue
In 1838 he became a life member of the Royal Geological Society of Ireland located in the Dublin Customs House and acted as its President from 1846-48.
He presented to the RIA his most significant paper on 9th February 1846 on earthquake dynamics.
He is also responsible for coining the word “seismology” and other related “seismo” words e.g. the isoseismal map, which he used in his research.
The RIA awarded Mallet the Cunningham medal for his research into the theory of earthquakes on15th March 1862. Ironically, Mallet’s first experience of an earthquake happened in Dublin in 1840’s.
He was awarded an honorary D. Litt. from TCD, and in 1877 the prestigious Wollaston Medal, the Geological Society of London highest honour.
Category: Robert Mallet
Geophysics
DIAS Geophysics are partners within the @eurovolc H2020 project where the first annual meeting occurred this week at the Volcano Observatory of the Azores Islands at the University of Azores in Ponta Delgada #eurovolc
We commenced geophysical data collection as part of the 'Geourban' project last week in Merrion Sq, Dublin. Excellent collaboration with @GeolSurvIE @iCRAGcentre @DubCityCouncil @GDGeosolutions
Congrats to @StKiliansDS team Roan Batard, Ethan McQuaid & Marilou Gerbelot-Barillon on winning the Group 2nd place in Physical, Chemical & Mathematical Sci at @BTYSTE lfor their project: 'What makes Dublin shake?' @dias_geophysics were delighted to support you with your project! twitter.com/NBourgeois_Pro…
With support from the @GeolSurvIE , €1.5m is being invested to expand and upgrade the Irish National Seismic Network (insn.ie) New funding will result in more stations, greater coverage & more accurate recording of earthquakes in Ireland. tinyurl.com/yb6ho2cp
A seismometer has just been deployed on the surface of Mars! " This was the first time a science instrument had ever been placed onto the surface of another planet" For more info tinyurl.com/y7amv9qo
Our own Prof. Sergei Lebedev has been listed as one of the top 100 scientists making the world a better place! For more info' on his project check out sea-seis.ie and also Prof. Chris Bean's imarl.ie #deepoceanlistening tinyurl.com/ybd2hgo8
Dr. Duygu Kiyan recently presented her work at the AGU Meeting in Washington, USA. Along with her colleagues, she is imaging Ireland's lithosphere using legacy and newly acquired magnetotelluric data across Ireland. @iCRAGcentre @DIAS_Dublin @GeolSurvIE @tcdastro
Our visiting guest, Professor John McCloskey @EdinburghUni spoke to @NewstalkFM @SeanMoncrieff this afternoon about the unpredictability of volcanoes! Don’t miss his talk tonight - 6.30pm @TCD_physics, organised by @dias_geophysics. Full details: bit.ly/2AqmORP
"Forecasting the Unpredictable: Earthquake science in a crowded world" by Prof. John McCloskey is DIAS's 2018 Statutory Public Lecture of the School of Cosmic Physics. Schrodinger Theatre, School of Physics, Trinity College Dublin, Wednesday Dec 12th at 18:30. Admission is free!
To know more about the marine geophysics research conducted here in @dias_geophysics check out imarl.ie for #deepoceanlistening and also Sergei's project sea-seis.ie on the deployment of seismometers in the North Atlantic this summer. @10Things_ToKnow
Prof. Chris Bean and Dr Sergei Lebedev from @dias_geophysics @DIAS_Dublin join @jonathan_mccrea to look at Irish seabed research - 8.30pm @RTEOne - @GeolSurvIE tonight on @10Things_ToKnow
The field season of the DIAS led HERSK project started last week when Icelandic Met Office engineers transported seismic gear with skidoos onto Hekla volcano. The HEkla Real-time Seimic networK project is funded by the GSI shortcall program and led by Martin Möllhoff at DIAS.
The DIAS geophysics team along with their colleagues successfully deployed the seismic network in this unique, natural laboratory in the Galapagos.
This inflation has critically stressed the rocks in the volcano, such that small local earthquakes are being triggered by the tiny ground shaking from large distant earthquakes in the surrounding Pacific ‘ring of fire’.
Recent ascent of magma to shallow levels in the volcano has caused more than one metre of uplift of the volcano’s surface and thousands of small earthquakes.
The fundamental aim of this international collaboration is to improve our understanding of how earthquakes can trigger one another by studying the seismicity at Sierra Negra.
Geophysicists from DIAS have recently assisted the University of Edinburgh & the Instituto Geofisico at the Escuela Politecnica Nacional (IGEPN), deploy a network of seismometers at Sierra Negra, a large basaltic volcano in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
#DIASDublin welcomed Mr. Yukiya Amano, DG of the International Atomic Energy Agency @iaeaorg today where, as a guest of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, he gave a keynote address on "IAEA: Atoms for Peace and Development". Retweeted by DIAS Geophysics
Prof. Chris Bean describing the new Ocean Bottom Seismometers at the iMARL launch to @k_verbruggen of @GeolSurvIE @SeanKyneTD and Mark Ferguson of @scienceirel
DIAS took delivery of 18 ocean bottom seismometers this morning as part of the iMARL project funded by @scienceirel and support from @GeolSurvIE #deepoceanlistening