Beginnings of Regular Seismic Service and Research in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy: Part I

The paper mentions the first attempts of European savants and scientists in the past centuries to study in a more systematic way the phenomenon named an earthquake. Discussed in this context are the activities developed in the second half of the 19th century by Viennese and other Austro-Hungarian physicists, geologists, geographers and specialists in geomagnetism, geodesy and other geo-disciplines with the aim to initiate regular seismological research in the Monarchy. These efforts resulted in the idea to organize an effective seismic survey which would supply the researchers with continuous earthquake data, first on the macroseismic level, later on the basis of instrumental observations.We speculate upon the reasons which stimulated such a difficult and long-term project at that time and discuss the impact of the new ideas on one particular region of the Monarchy—the territory of Bohemia the seismic activity of which had been described as low or moderate. We link these efforts to the all-European endeavour of the time to promote (up to that time only sporadic) earthquake observations and studies to the rank of systematic seismological research.The paper deals with these activities as they had been accomplished by the end of the 19th century. In Part II, the continuation of the efforts in the first decade of the 20th century will be discussed. The pioneering works reported in both papers quite naturally created a solid fundament for the later development of seismology in former Czechoslovakia and in the present Czech Republic.