Fusakichi Omori
Fusakichi Omori | |
---|---|
Tokyo Imperial University | |
Occupation | Scientist |
Known for | pioneer seismologist |
Awards | Order of the Sacred Treasure from the Imperial Court of Japan |
Fusakichi Omori (大森 房吉, Ōmori Fusakichi, 30 October 1868 – 8 November 1923) was a pioneer Japanese
Education
Omori studied physics with the initial British
Early career
Sekiya and Omori published the first clear record of a destructive
In 1891 Omori was appointed assistant to Sekiya and in 1893 lecturer on seismology at the Imperial University. In 1895, he was sent to Germany and Italy for additional study and visited England briefly on his way home in September 1896.[2]
Omori became chair of seismology at the university and secretary of the Imperial Earthquake Investigation Committee following Sekya's death on 9 January 1896. He could read English, German, Italian and Japanese and maintained correspondence with many seismologists as well as writing papers in all four languages.[3]
Recording seismographs
In 1899, Omori described his horizontal recording pendulum, later called an Omori seismometer[3] and with minor modifications by the J&A Bosch Company of Strassburg, the "Bosch-Omori Seismometer".[4] Distributed worldwide, Bosch-Omori seismographs formed the backbone of the world seismographic network until after World War II.[5] The last operating Bosch-Omori seismograph, now operating independently of the seismographic network, is exhibited at the Ferndale Museum (California).[6]
Global earthquake investigations
On 28 October 1891
Omori conducted measurements of the three principal phases of earthquake motion originally described by Milne:
Previously, in 1889 Omori had worked with John Milne to record experiments carried out at the Engineering college at the University of Tokyo to investigate the overturning and fracturing of brick and other columns by horizontally applied motion. For many years the modernization of Japan during the Meiji Restoration, through replacement of traditional light wooden structures resting on boulders, with red brick buildings and iron bridges, had been a major source of concern or Milne.[11][12][13]
Omori later continued this research and is recognized in earthquake engineering as the first to research the effects of earthquakes on man-made structures through implementing the usage of shaking tables[14] and comparing experimental results with measurements during actual earthquakes.[1]
At the 1908 Messina earthquake, Omori noted the large loss of life, perhaps 75,000 and said that of those 99 percent had died because their houses were not built to withstand earthquakes.[1]
San Francisco earthquake 1906
Worldwide, the two most common types of seismographs at the time, the Milne-type and Bosch-Omori seismographs recorded the San Francisco earthquake.[15] Seismologists from around the world arrived in northern California shortly after the disaster.[16]
Omori left Tokyo 1 May by ship and arrived in
Omori and his colleagues spent time in the city measuring damaged buildings and taking photographs. They were reportedly assaulted on more than one occasion.
During the approximately 80 days spent in California,[17] Omori traveled by steamer as far north as Humboldt County, California where on 6 July 1906 he was struck by a ruffian who mistook him for a non-union strikebreaking sailor in Eureka, California[25] and the mayor of Eureka promptly apologized to Dr. Omori.[26]
Omori continued his observations south into the
Later, Omori, the University of California (Berkeley), and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey establishing a Ferndale Seismographic Station that would support the installation of a Bosch-Omori Seismograph in Ferndale. The area is especially interesting due to its proximity to the Mendocino Triple Junction offshore. That seismograph continues to operate (now independently) and is exhibited at the Ferndale Museum.[28][6]
In person, and in his writings, Omori followed the visible land trace of the fault 150 miles south to San Jose from Point Arena, but pointed out that the line continued 120 miles northward, underwater to the False Cape landslide south of Eureka, California. Many of Omori's photographs from this trip were published.[17]
Omori studied the directions of the movement by studying tombstones south of San Francisco, and cracks in the walls of buildings including the St. James Hotel in San Jose.[16] Correlating damage in Western and Japanese construction, Omori released the first scale of earthquake damage that used instrument readings as well as observed effects to describe damage. Omori described the faulting in California as parallel to the strike of the fault caused by shear stresses on the plane of fracture.[16] Omori seismographs were rapidly installed all over northern California, and a list of aftershocks to the San Francisco earthquake was compiled and published.[16] Omori returned to Japan 4 August 1906 aboard the Doric.[29]
Volcanic seismicity
From one of his earliest papers describing the eruption of
After meeting
Final conference
In fall 1923 Omori attended the Second Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Australia, where he and Edward Pigot, the director of the observatory at Riverview College in Sydney, Australia observed a seismograph recording the major great Kantō earthquake which destroyed Yokohama and Tokyo on 1 September 1923, killing about 140,000 and leaving 1.9 million people homeless.[34]
Omori returned to Japan from
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h
Davison, Charles (1927). "11". The Founders of Seismology. Cambridge [Eng.] The University Press. pp. 203–223. OCLC 680268890.
- ^ .
- ^ a b c
Alden, Andrew (1924). "Obituary Prof. Fusakichi Omori (1868–1923)". Nature. 113 (2830): 133. doi:10.1038/113133a0.
- ISBN 9788472837102.
- ^ Poppe, Barbara B. (1979). Historical Survey of U.S. Seimograph Stations: Geological Survey Professional Paper 1096. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.
- ^ a b "Saving the seismograph". Our Story. XLIV (2). Ferndale, California: The Ferndale Museum: 1, 3–8. March–April 2023.
- ^
Koto, Bunjiro (1917). "Baron Dairoku Kikuchi". Nature. 100 (2508): 227–228. doi:10.1038/100227a0.
- ^ Omori, Fusakichi (1894). "On the aftershocks of earthquakes". Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University of Tokyo. 7: 111–200.
- ^ "British Geological Survey – The National Seismological Archive (NSA)". earthquakes.bgs.ac.uk. vol XI, Pl. II-XII. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- OCLC 701979583.
- ISBN 978-0-520-24607-2.
- ^ Nott P. A., Herbert Gustar L. K., John Milne, Father of Modern Seismology: Norbury Publications: Caxton House, Kent 1980, p. 89
- ^ Milne, John: Omori, F. Trans Seismological Society, Japan. Vol 13, Pt 1: Effects on Buildings pp. 43–83
- ^ Omori, F. (1900). Seismic Experiments on the Fracturing and Overturning of Columns. Publ. Earthquake Invest. Comm. In Foreign Languages, N.4, Tokyo.
- ^ Omori, F. "San Francisco Earthquake of April 18, 1906. Observed at Hongo ,Tokyo with Omori's Horizontal Pendulum". John Milne Seismological Library Science Museum Wroughton Library and Archives. Archived from the original on 3 April 2012. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
- ^ a b c d
Lawson, Andrew Cowper (1861–1952); State Earthquake Investigation Commission California (19 October 1908). The California earthquake of April 18, 1906 : report of the State Earthquake Investigation Commission, in two volumes and atlas. Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 87.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d Jordan, David Starr (1907). The California Earthquake of 1906. San Francisco, California: A. M. Robertson. p. 371. OCLC# 559920402.
- ^
Otani, Shunsuke (2006). "A Japanese View of the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake Disaster". Earthquake Spectra. 22 (2_suppl): S183–S205. S2CID 110578781.
- ^ Crane, Charles S. (10 July 1906). "San Francisco Hoodlumism". Hawaiian Gazette. p. 4.
- ^
Fradkin, Philip (April 2006). The Great Earthquake and Firestorms of 1906: How San Francisco nearly destroyed itself. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 448. ISBN 978-0-520-24820-5.
- ^
Clancey, Gregory (2006). Earthquake Nation: The Cultural Politics of Japanese Seismicity. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24607-2.
- ^ "Fisk extends Omori Apology: Summarily dismisses boy who struck savant with a stone". Vol. 100, no. 15. San Francisco Call. 15 June 1906.
- ^ "Japanese visitors meet disgraceful treatment". Vol. 100, no. 14. San Francisco Call. 14 June 1906.
- ^ "Hawaii is Safe from Earthquakes". Hawaii Gazette. 14 August 1906.
- ^ Associated Press (7 July 1906). "Mistake Scientist for non-union man". Los Angeles Herald. Vol. 33, no. 280.
- ^ "Mayor Makes Apology for Attack on Omori: Citizens of Eureka Are Aroused by Assault on Japanese Seismic Expert". Vol. 100, no. 38. San Francisco Call. 8 July 1906. p. 25.
- ^ "Discovered the Center of quake: Prof. Omori, Japanese Seismologist says he found it on coast between Point Reyes and Point Arena". Daily Humboldt Standard. 26 July 1906.
- ^ "Collections | Ferndale Museum". ferndalemuseum.com. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
- ^ "Daily News". Vol. 100, no. 65. San Francisco Call. 4 August 1906.
- ^ Apple, Russell A. "HVO History". United States Geological Survey HVO web site. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
- ^ Apple, Russell A. (1972). "Whitney Seismograph Vault #29 nomination form". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
- ^ Apple, Russell A. (4 January 2005). "Thomas A. Jagger, Jr. and the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory".
- ^ "Volcano Watch". 15 March 2001. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
- ^ Branagan, David (9 June 2009). "E.F. Pigot – the priest who knew about earthquakes" (PDF). Geological Society of Australia Earth Science Showcase. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
- ^
Hammer, Joshua (August 2006). Yokohama burning: the deadly 1923 earthquake and fire that helped forge the path to World War II. Simon and Schuster. p. 336. ISBN 0-7432-6465-7.