Robert Mallet (3 June 1810 – 5 November 1881) was an Irish geophysicist, civil engineer, and inventor who distinguished himself by pioneering research concerning earthquakes, and is sometimes regarded as the "father of seismology." For his major foundational work in seismology, he received the Telford Medal in 1859, the Cunningham Medal in 1862, and the Wollaston Medal in 1877. He became a member of the Royal Geological Society of Ireland in 1838, and a fellow of the Royal Society in 1854.

Mallet began his career as an apprentice in his father's iron foundry company and grew the family business into one of the largest engineering firms in Ireland. He started researching in the study of earthquakes during his time at various academies, including the Royal Irish Academy in 1832, and the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1835. His son, Frederick Richard Mallet, was also a geologist who worked in India.

He retired in the 1870s, after becoming blind for the last seven years of his life, and died near London in 1881. He was buried at West Norwood Cemetery.

Early life

Mallet was born in Dublin, on 3 June 1810, the son of factory owner John Mallet. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, entering it at the age of 16 and graduating in science and mathematics in 1830 at the age of 20.

Career

After his graduation, he joined his father's iron foundry business and helped build the business into one of the most important engineering works in Ireland, supplying ironwork for railway companies, the Fastnet Rock lighthouse, and a swing bridge over the River Shannon at Athlone. He also helped manufacture the characteristic iron railings that surround Trinity College and which bear his family name at the base. and performed blasting experiments to determine the speed of seismic propagation in sand and solid rock. Mallet, with letters of endorsement from Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin, petitioned the Royal Society of London and received a grant of £150 to go to Padula and record the devastation personally. The resulting report was presented to the Royal Society as the Report on the Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857. It was a major scientific work and made great use of the then new process of photography to record the devastation caused by the earthquake. In 1862, he published the "Great Neapolitan Earthquake of 1857: The First Principles of Observational Seismology"

Between 1840 and 1852 Mallet designed a buckled iron plate to be used as buckled-plate flooring base to the road surface of bridges. In the 1860s he also introduced buckled railway sleepers.<!-- see also: https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Robert_Mallet -->

Blind for the last seven years of his life, he died at Stockwell, London, on 5 November 1881 and is buried at West Norwood Cemetery.

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  • Victorian Forts description
  • Robert Mallet and his family at Mallett family history