Earthquake Milne

Many countries lay claim to be the home of the ‘father of modern seismology’, in reality many scientists working independently or collaboratively in several different countries have contributed to the foundations of the science of seismology. In the late 19th and early 20th century some important contributions were made by the British scientist John Milne, who came to seismology by a serendipitous route while working as a lecturer in mining engineering in Tokyo. Milne’s life was a colourful adventure of travel, hard work and single-minded determination, which ensured that his contributions have had a long-lasting impact, the ripples of which have propagated forwards in time to the present day.