Voting Station

Charles Richter

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Scientist

The Resume

    (April 26, 1900-September 30, 1985)
    Born in Hamilton, Ohio
    Seismologist and physicist
    Earned Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the California Institute of Technology (1928)
    Inventor of the Richter magnitude scale used for measuring energy released by earthquakes (1935)
    Authored the text 'Elementary Seismology' (1958)
    Died in Pasadena, California at age 85

Why he might be annoying:

    Though colleague Beno Gutenberg co-invented the Richter scale, his name is all but forgotten.
    He campaigned (unsuccessfully) for Gutenberg's name to be associated with the Richter scale only AFTER Gutenberg died.
    He bristled every time somebody would link 'magnitude' with 'intensity,' which he insisted were two completely different concepts.
    During his 1970 retirement party from Cal Tech, a parody song about the Richter scale was sung by lab techs which infuriated him.
    In his later years he became a naturalist - aka a nudist.

Why he might not be annoying:

    He was interested in earthquakes since age six after the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.
    Other than attending the University of Tokyo from 1959-60 as a Fulbright scholar, he spent his entire career at Cal Tech teaching students seismology.
    He is credited with saving lives as Los Angeles officials listened to him in the 1960s and redesigned several buildings which withstood destruction during a 1971 earthquake.
    To cement his place as the Earthquake King, he installed a seismograph in his living room and would answer quake related questions any hour day or night.
    He was a voracious reader of science fiction and a huge fan of Star Trek.

Credit: Scar Tactics


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 6 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 16 Votes: 43.75% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 19 Votes: 52.63% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 18 Votes: 44.44% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 12 Votes: 33.33% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 19 Votes: 47.37% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 32 Votes: 40.62% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 39 Votes: 51.28% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 102 Votes: 45.10% Annoying