Robert Mallet An Irish geophysicist,engineer and inventor.

By Conor Walsh

Early Life

• Mallet was born in Dublin on the 3rd of June 1810.

• He was the son of John Mallet, a factory worker.

• He went to Trinity College at the age of 16.

• He graduated in science and in mathematics at the age of 20

Early Career• After he graduated he worked for his father’s iron

foundry.• There he was involved in many major jobs such as

The Fastnet Rock Lighthouse in Cork, the Nore Viaduct in Kilkenny and the famous gates outside Trinity College. He also developed buckle plated flooring in bridges, a steel floor plating that is slightly arched to increase rigidity.

• Mallet was elected to the Royal Irish Academy, an academic body, in 1832 at the early age of 22.

• He was also enrolled in the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1835, which helped finance his research.

Fastnet Lighthouse

Nore Viaduct

Work in seismology• Today, Robert Mallet is known as “The

Father of Seismology” for his work in the field.

• He wrote many papers on seismology such as “On the Dynamics of Earthquakes”, “Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857: The First Principles of Observational Seismology” and “Volcanic Energy: an Attempt to develop its True Origin and Cosmical Relations”.

• These books are part of these books are part of the foundations of modern seismology.

Work in seismology• He is also known for making a very early form

of a seismograph, the device we use today to determine earthquake strenght.

• Mallet is credited aswell for being the first person to coin the terms “seismology”, “isoseismal map” and “epicentre”.

• In his paper, “Volcanic Energy: an Attempt to develop its True Origin and Cosmical Relations”, he tries to prove that volcanic activity below the earth’s surface leads to cracks and fractures in the earth’s crust, causing earthquakes. We know today that this is in fact true.

Designing Cannons

• Robert Mallet also designed cannons.• He perfected using cast iron in

designing more effective cannons.• During the Crimean War he designed

“Mallets Mortar”, a cannon 11 feet long, 42,674 kg in weight that shot cannonballs 36 inches in diameter, that weighed 1,100 kg, over 1.5 miles.

Mallets Mortar

Later career• Mallet was elected Fellow of the Royal

Society in 1854, and moved to London in 1861.

• He was awarded the Telford Medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1859.

• This was followed by the Wollaston medal of the Geological Society of London in 1877, the Society's highest award.

• Blind for the last seven years of his life, Robert Mallet died in Clapham, London on the 5th of November 1881, aged 71.

Final OpinionOverall I feel Robert Mallet was a great Irish scientist. Without the

research he had done we would not have the same understanding of earthquakes and seismology that

we do today. And also he has made images that are either known in

local areas, Fastnet Lighthouse in Munster, or further away, the

railings surrounding Trinity College known by foreign tourist. He was

truly a great scientist and inventor.