Deaths on September 30

Charles Francis Richter

Died on September 30, 1985

Charles Francis Richter, American seismologist and physicist (b. 1900)

Charles Francis Richter (); April 26, 1900 – September 30, 1985) was an American seismologist and physicist.

Richter is most famous as the creator of the Richter magnitude scale, which, until the development of the moment magnitude scale in 1979, quantified the size of earthquakes. Inspired by Kiyoo Wadati's 1928 paper on shallow and deep earthquakes, Richter first used the scale in 1935 after developing it in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg; both worked at the California Institute of Technology.

The quote "logarithmic plots are a device of the devil" is attributed to Richter.

References

Charles Francis Richter

Choose Another Date

Events on 1985

20 Mar

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race
Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
13 May

Philadelphia
Police release a bomb on MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia to end a stand-off, killing six adults and five children, and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.
25 May

Tropical cyclone
Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people.
6 Jun

Auschwitz concentration camp
The grave of "Wolfgang Gerhard" is opened in Embu, Brazil; the exhumed remains are later proven to be those of Josef Mengele, Auschwitz's "Angel of Death"; Mengele is thought to have drowned while swimming in February 1979.
13 Sep

Super Mario
Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the NES, which starts the Super Mario series of platforming games.

Deaths on September 30

Charles Francis Richter

Died on September 30, 1985

References

Choose Another Date

Events on 1985

Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race

Philadelphia

Tropical cyclone

Auschwitz concentration camp

Super Mario