Historical Seismology 1912-1963

The assessment of seismic hazard in regions such as Switzerland are mainly based on historical documents due to the long return periods of medium to large earthquakes. During the last 20 years, seismologists, historians and database experts at the Swiss Seismological Service (SED) at ETH Zurich have been working together on a number of successful interdisciplinary projects.

Within the framework of projects supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation, a wealth of data has been compiled covering information for the pre- and early instrumental period of scientific earthquake monitoring (1880-1963) . The compiled material consists of information collected using very different methods and covers both descriptive and early instrumental data. Due to the wealth of data and the challenges involved in recording and digitizing the very different types of sources, the potential of this data stock has not yet been exploited beyond the basic documentation and interpretation.

This follow-up project, funded by the cogito foundation, serves to maintain the sustainability of the interdisciplinary historical research at the SED through in-depth and systematic analysis, documentation and publication activities. In the seismological domain, the improvement and interconnection of the macroseismic and instrumental data play an important role for the next revision of the earthquake catalogue of Switzerland. In the field of history of knowledge, the development of the SED in the first half of the 20th century can also be used as a data-supported historical case study on the conceptual, organizational and technological development of a scientific institution and its practices.