Count Fernand de Montessus de Ballore

Abstract

THE small band of seismologists has suffered a serious loss through the death of M. de Montessus de Ballore. Born in 1851, he was trained at the Ecole Polytechnique, where he was a fellow-student of Marshal Foch. In 1881 he was sent as chief of a military mission to San Salvador. There he became interested in the frequent earthquakes of the Central American republics, and he continued his seismological studies on his return to Paris as Directeur des Études at the École Polytechnique. In 1907 he was appointed director of the earthquake-service in Chile, a service which, through his efforts, became one of the first rank.