August Heinrich Sieberg

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August Heinrich Sieberg
Born(1875-12-23)23 December 1875
University of Athens)
Scientific career
Fieldsgeophysics, seismology
Theses
  • -Doctorate-  (1921)
  • -Habilitation-  (1922)

August Heinrich Sieberg (born 23 December 1875 in

geophysicist. He researched mainly in the field of seismology and developed a seismic intensity scales as well as a tsunami
intensity scale.

Sieberg studied natural sciences at

International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth’s Interior
.

After the First World War Strasbourg became French and Sieberg moved in 1919 together with the director of the Strasbourg main station,

German Seismological Society. In 1924 he became an extraordinary professor. After Hecker's retirement in 1932, Sieberg became provisional director of the Reichszentrale für Erdbebenforschung, in June 1936 he became its director. At his suggestion and according to his plans the Reich Ministry of Science established the German Reich Earthquake Service.[1]: 127–129 [2]

In 1925 Siebert was awarded the Golden Ring of Honour[

German Museum in Munich, and from 1934 he was a member of its board of directors.[2]
In 1933 August Sieberg was elected a member of the
University of Athens.[1][2] In 1939 he joined the Bulgarian Seismological Service in Sofia as an external member.[4]

Scientific research

As a

seismologist he was concerned with the compilation of earthquake catalogues and the geographical distribution of earthquakes. Further fields of research were tectonics and the analysis of macroseismic data. Sieberg was aware that the nature of the building ground and the construction method have a strong influence on the damage caused by an earthquake and was very interested in the social impacts of earthquakes.[4]

Pic. 4
Pic. 9
Illustrations by A. Sieberg for the Earth quake (Zemětřesení) article in Otto's Encyclopedia (Ottův slovník naučný, vol. 27, p. 565–571, Prague, 1908).

In 1912 Sieberg introduced the twelve-degree

Mercalli-Cancani-Sieberg scale
as an improvement of the Mercalli-Cancani scale. The scale is constructed in such a way that each scale division corresponds approximately to twice the horizontal basic acceleration of the previous one.

In 1927 he developed the Sieberg Scale, a six-degree scale for assessing the strength of tsunamis on the basis of their effects on humans, buildings and nature, which was adapted in 1962 by Nicholas Ambraseys in the form of the Sieberg-Ambraseys Tsunami Intensity Scale to the usual twelve-degree earthquake scales. In 1939 Sieberg published the first earthquake catalogue of Germany and neighbouring areas.

References

  1. ^ a b c Fritz Pfaffl (2013). "August H. Sieberg (1875-1945), der Begründer der modernen Makroseismik und Erdbebenkunde an der Universität Jena (Deutschland)" (PDF). Bericht Naturf. Ges. Bamberg. LXXX: 125–145.
  2. ^ a b c Gerhard Krumbach (1949). "August Sieberg zum Gedächtnis". Seismische Arbeiten – Veröffentlichungen des Zentralsinstituts für Erdbebenforschung in Jena. 51: 6–9.
  3. Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
  4. ^ a b Ivanka Paskaleva, Michel Cara, Giuliano F. Panza: A. Sieberg, Experience and Lessons on the Origin, Prevention and Elimination of Earthquake Damages.[permanent dead link] Electronic Newsletter of the IASPEI Commission on Earthquake Hazard, Risk and Strong Ground Motion (SHR), Vol. 8, No. 2, 15 Feb 2007

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