Mallet
ORDERBY-NAME: Mallet, Robert
OTHER-NAME:
BIRTH: 3 June 1810; Dublin, Ireland
DEATH: 5 November 1881; London, England
CATEGORY: Science
DISCIPLINE: Seismology
ASSESSMENT: He laid the foundations for modern seismology
LANGUAGE: English
EDUCATION: Bective House School, Dublin, Ireland; Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
ACHIEVEMENT: He brought mathematical analysis to the discipline of seismic studies.
MAJOR-WORK: On the Dynamics of Earthquakes (1846)
PARENTS: Father: John Mallet; Mother Mallet (a cousin)
SPOUSE: Cordelia Watson (d. 1854);
SIBLINGS: None
CHILDREN: Two daughters; three sons
DETAILS: Mallet’s father ran a successful foundry and metal-working business and in 1831, a year after graduating, he became a partner in the business. He took charge of the foundry and turned it into the biggest engineering works in Ireland.
His construction and engineering work included bridges, artesian wells, cooling machines for breweries, railway stations, engine sheds, viaducts and lighthouses (he built the Fastnet lighthouse in 1849), printing plants, hydraulic presses, dock gates and coal mines.
He developed a method for bleaching turf for the manufacture of paper, and found an electromagnetic way to separate brass and iron filings.
He also investigated the blackening of photographic paper by glowing embers; the effect of boiling on various substances; the effects of water (salt and fresh) on wrought and cast iron, and steel. In this he was one of the founders of research on corrosion.
In 1852 he invented the ‘buckled plate,’ a method of flooring used on Westminster Bridge, and later as railroad ties.
Mallet made his most important impact on the study of seismology. He had always been interested in geology and had studied geological structures in County Galway. Influenced by the geologist <influenced by> Lyell* (his description of the 1783 Calabria earthquake in Italy), in 1846 Mallet produced his On the Dynamics of Earthquakes.
In it he described various kinds of wave action|: earth wave, sea wave and sound wave. H ealos produced an experimental seismograph.
Between 1850 and 1861 he set off explosions to calculate the rate of travel of seismic waves in sand and quartzite. He also coined the term ‘seismology,’ and is generally regarded as the founder of the discipline.
In a number of papers prepared together with his son John, Mallet published a catalog of 6,831 records of earthquakes reported between 1606 B and 1858, as well as his seismic map of the world.
In 1854 he made two giant mortars to fire 36in shells in the Crimean War, but the conflict ended before they could be used. The same year he was elected to the <member of> Royal Society* .
When the railroads were completed in Ireland, foundry-work began to dry up so in 1861 Mallet moved to London and set up as a consulting engineer. He edited the Practical Mechanic’s Journal, and prepared the Journal Record of the Great Exhibition (1862) and was often called as an expert witness in patent cases.
Trough his work in seismology Mallet developed an interest in vulcanology and in 1872 published: ‘Volcanic Energy: an Attempt to Develop its True Origin and Cosmical Relations.’ The paper contained a report on his analyses of sixteen different types of rock, and speculations on the pressure origins of volcanoes. Crushing or other contortion of the Earth’s surface would cause crushing of rock, so cracks would develop, down which rainwater would flow, and when this hit the magma below the surface it would cause eruptions.
During the last seven years of his life he was totally blind.
EXTRA-CONNECTIONS: He influenced the seismology work of <influenced> J. Milne* <influenced> <Mohorovicic* and <influenced> Richter*
ONELINER: Robert Mallet, English seismology pioneer
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Dictionary of Scientific Biography
Encyclopedia Britannica
http://www.univie.ac.at/Wissenschaftstheorie/heat/gallery/mallet-f.htm
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Robert+Mallet