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Robert Mallet (3 June 1810 – 5 November 1881) was an Irish
geophysicist Geophysics () is a subject of natural science concerned with the physical processes and physical properties of the Earth and its surrounding space environment, and the use of quantitative methods for their analysis. The term ''geophysics'' som ...
,
civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...
, and inventor who distinguished himself in research on
earthquakes An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fro ...
and is sometimes called the father of
seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...
. His son,
Frederick Richard Mallet Frederick Richard Mallet (10 February 1841 - 24 June 1921) was an Irish geologist who worked for thirty years in the Geological Survey of India. Life and work Mallet was born in Dublin, the son of Robert Mallet, a geologist. After studying at t ...
was a geologist who worked in India.


Early life

Mallet was born in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
, on 3 June 1810, the son of factory owner John Mallet. He was educated at
Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...
, entering it at the age of 16 and graduating in science and mathematics in 1830 at the age of 20.


Career

Following his graduation, he joined his father's iron
foundry A foundry is a factory that produces metal castings. Metals are cast into shapes by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal into a mold, and removing the mold material after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metals pr ...
business and helped build the firm into one of the most important engineering works in Ireland, supplying ironwork for railway companies, the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, and a swing bridge over the
River Shannon The River Shannon ( ga, Abhainn na Sionainne, ', '), at in length, is the longest river in the British Isles. It drains the Shannon River Basin, which has an area of , – approximately one fifth of the area of the island of Ireland. The Sha ...
at
Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...
. He also helped manufacture the characteristic iron railings that surround Trinity College and which bear his family name at the base. Mallet was elected to the
Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier learned society and one its leading cultural ...
in 1832 at the early age of 22. He also enrolled in the
British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chi ...
in 1835 which helped finance much of his research in seismology. In 1838 he became a life member of the
Royal Geological Society of Ireland The Royal Geological Society of Ireland traces its origin to the founding in 1831 in Dublin of the Geological Society of Dublin, under the leadership of William Buckland and Adam Sedgwick. Its initial membership included academics, aristocratics, ...
, and acted as its President from 1846–48. From 1848–1849 he constructed the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, southwest of Cape Clear.


Seismological work

On 9 February 1846 he presented to the Royal Irish Academy his paper, ''"On the Dynamics of Earthquakes"'', which is considered to be one of the foundations of modern
seismology Seismology (; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (''seismós'') meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (''-logía'') meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes and the propagation of elastic waves through the Earth or through other ...
. He is also credited with coining the word "seismology" and other related words e.g. the isoseismal map, which he used in his research. He also coined the term '' epicentre''. From 1852 to 1858, he was engaged (with his son,
John William Mallet John William Mallet FRS (10 October 1832 – 7 November 1912) was an Irish chemist who lived and worked in the United States. Biography John William Mallet was born near Dublin to Robert Mallet and Cordelia Mallet (Watson). Robert Mallet was ...
) in the preparation of his work, ''The Earthquake Catalogue of the British Association'' (1858), and carried out blasting experiments to determine the speed of seismic propagation in sand and solid rock. On 16 December 1857, the area around Padula, Italy, was devastated by the Great Neapolitan earthquake which caused 11,000 deaths. At the time it was the third largest known earthquake in the world and has been estimated to have been of magnitude 7.0 on the
Moment magnitude scale The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pa ...
. Mallet, with letters of support from
Charles Lyell Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known as the author of ''Principles of Geolo ...
and
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
, petitioned the
Royal Society of London The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, r ...
and received a grant of £150 to go to Padula and record at first hand the devastation. The resulting report was presented to the Royal Society as the ''Report on the Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857''. It was a major scientific work and made great use of the then new research tool of photography to record the devastation caused by the earthquake. In 1862, he published the ''"Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857: The First Principles of Observational Seismology"'' in two volumes; he brought forward evidence to show that the depth below the Earth's surface, from where the impulse of the Neapolitan earthquake originated, was about 8–9 geographical miles. One of Mallet's papers was ''Volcanic Energy: an Attempt to develop its True Origin and Cosmical Relations'', in which he sought to show that volcanic heat may be attributed to the effects of crushing, contortion and other disturbances in the crust of the earth; the disturbances leading to the formation of lines of fracture, more or less vertical, down which water would find its way, and if the temperature generated be sufficient
volcanic eruption Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra (ash, lapilli, volcanic bombs and volcanic blocks), and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are oft ...
s of steam or lava would follow.


Other work

During the
Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...
he designed a mortar of calibre capable of throwing a shell a distance of . The huge mortar was built in sections to allow transport, but was too late to be used in action. An example has been preserved at the
Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...
base in
Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained thr ...
and one is displayed before the Royal Armouries
Fort Nelson Fort Nelson may refer to: Canada *Fort Nelson, British Columbia, a town *Fort Nelson River, British Columbia * Fort Nelson (Manitoba) (1670–1713), an early fur trading post at the mouth of the Nelson River and the first headquarters of the Hudson ...
near
Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...
. Mallet was elected
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemati ...
in 1854, and in 1861 moved to London, where he became a consulting engineer and edited ''The Practical Mechanic's Journal''. He was awarded the Telford Medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1859, followed by the
Cunningham Medal The Cunningham Medal is the premier award of the Royal Irish Academy. It is awarded every three years in recognition of "outstanding contributions to scholarship and the objectives of the Academy". History It was which was established in 1796 at ...
of the
Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier learned society and one its leading cultural ...
for his research into the theory of earthquakes in 1862 and the Wollaston medal of the Geological Society of London in 1877, the Geological Society's highest award. Blind for the last seven years of his life, he died at
Stockwell Stockwell is a district in south west London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. It is situated south of Charing Cross. Battersea, Brixton, Clapham, South Lambeth, Oval and Kennington all border Stockwell. History The name ...
, London, on 5 November 1881 and is buried at West Norwood Cemetery.


Notes


External links


Victorian Forts description

Robert Mallet and his family
at Mallett family history * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mallet, Robert 1810 births 1881 deaths 19th-century Irish people Irish geologists Irish geophysicists Irish engineers Irish civil engineers Fellows of the Royal Society People from County Dublin Burials at West Norwood Cemetery British civil engineers Seismologists Wollaston Medal winners Weapon designers Members of the Royal Irish Academy