History

In ancient times, earthquakes were mentioned in numerous legends. In the absence of a rational explanation, animals and deities may have assumed responsibility for the devastation caused by natural hazards, which were then considered inevitable.

At the end of the 18th century, the earthquakes in London, Lisbon and Boston gave the American John Winthrop a better understanding of how earthquakes propagate, while the Englishman John Michell attempted to quantify the phenomena involved.

In the mid-19th century, the Irishman Robert Mallet compiled a large number of documents on earthquakes into a directory that was the most comprehensive of its time. He drew up a map showing the location of earthquakes and simulated tremors to calculate their speed of propagation, thus highlighting the importance of the nature of the subsoil.

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