WHITHER EARTHQUAKE SCIENCE

摘要

In the 1970s, during the heyday of earthquake prediction research, Charles Richter remained an ardent and vocal sceptic, a stance that drove a wedge between him and more optimistic colleagues. Overwhelmingly, the lessons of subsequent decades have vindicated Richter's views. Yet asked in 1979 if he thought earthquake prediction would ever be possible, he replied: "Nothing is less predictable than the development of an active scientific field."