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Giuseppe Mercalli (May 21, 1850 – March 19, 1914) was an Italian volcanologist and Catholic priest. He is best remembered for the Mercalli intensity scale for measuring earthquakes which is still used today. ==Biography== Born in Milan, Mercalli was ordained a Roman Catholic priest and soon became a professor of the Natural Sciences at the seminary of Milan. The Italian government appointed him a professor at Domodossola, followed by a post at Reggio di Calabria and finally a post at the Naples University. He was also director of the Vesuvius Observatory until the time of his death. He is best remembered for the Mercalli intensity scale for measuring earthquakes which is still used today. The Mercalli intensity scale, unlike the Richter magnitude scale, doesn't measure the energy released by an earthquake, but the effects an earthquake had on a given area, making it poorly suited for measuring earthquakes in sparsely populated areas, but ideal for comparing damage done by various tremors. The Mercalli scale, which has been widely used in earthquake engineering, gives a rating from I to XII, where I is felt only by a few people and XII has near total damage, few or no masonry structures remain standing, and objects are thrown into the air. Giuseppe Mercalli also witnessed the eruptions at the Aeolian Islands of Stromboli and Vulcano. It is his description of these two volcanic eruptions which is used by volcanologists the world over. He also photographed Vesuvius immediately after its eruption in 1906. In 1914 Mercalli burnt to death under suspicious circumstances, allegedly after knocking over a paraffin lamp in his bedroom. He is thought to have been working through the night, as he often did (he once was found working at 11 AM when he had set an examination, upon hearing which he replied, “It surely can't be daylight yet!”), when the fatal accident occurred. His body was found, carbonized, by his bed, holding a blanket which he attempted to use to fend off the flames. The authorities, however, stated a few days later that the professor was quite possibly murdered by strangling and soaked in petrol and burned to conceal the crime, because they determined that money worth about $1,400 at the time was missing from the professor's apartment. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Giuseppe Mercalli」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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