After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, Richter became a physicist at Columbia University. In 1918, while conducting research on the effects of atmospheric electricity on the Earth's magnetic field, he discovered that the amplitude of oscillations in the magnetic field scaled with the square root of time. This measurement, called "d'Alembert's paradox" because it contradicted Laplace's prediction for how small differences in time would produce large changes in amplitude, became known as "Richter's Law". It is still used to monitor earthquakes
Nothing is less predictable than the development of an active scientific field.Charles Francis Richter
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.Charles Francis Richter
