Charles Francis Richter Charles Francis Richter 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. Richter was born in
Orders of magnitude (length) (10 m or 1.1 billion light-years). At this scale, expansion of the universe becomes significant. Distance of these objects are derived from their measured redshifts, which depends on the cosmological models used. To help compare different orders of magnitude, this section lists distances starting at 100 Ym (10 m or 11 billion light years). At this scale, expansion of the universe becomes significant. Distance of these objects are derived from their measured redshifts, which depend on the cosmological models used. Distances longer than 100 Ym Orders of magnitude (length) The following are examples of orders of magnitude for different lengths.