The Museum of Seismology and Earth Magnetism

The Museum of Seismology and Earth Magnetism is located in the building which was inaugurated in 1900 as a central seismological station under the German emperor William II. This seismological station, in use until the seventies, was progressively replaced by more modern equipment, in the Vosges mountains where there is far less noise than in Strasbourg.

Two independent collections of instruments are found in the museum: the station's old seismometers, and a series of apparatus used to measure the earth's magnetic field. Wall presentations and educational and historic documents give the visitor an overview of geophysics in the areas of seismology and Earth magnetism.

The collections


Rooms A and B: Seismology

The seismometers from the old station are found in two rooms. The heaviest ones have been left in their previous positions. The numbering follows technological evolution from the oldest seismometer, the Rebeur-Ehlert which dates from 1895 and is one of the very first seismometers in the world, to seismometers from the 1950s.
  1. Rebeur-Ehlert (1895)
  2. Wiechert (1905-1909)
  3. Mainka
  4. Vicentini
  5. The "19 tons" (1925)
  6. Mintrop
  7. Galitzine (1910)
  8. Ewing-Press (1953)
  9. Peterschmitt
  10. Rocard
  11. Willmore (1950)
  12. Blum pendulum
  13. Melchior pendulum
Room C : Earth Magnetism

In the room on the right there is a collection of instruments used to measure the Earth magnetic field. Some of them were used in the polar years 1932-1933. Others, installed during International Geophysics Year (1957-1958) were used in French observatories in the southern hemisphere until 1980.

  1. Dip compass
  2. Magnetometric zero balance (1955)
  3. Schmidt's field balance (Vertical)
  4. Quartz horizontal magnetometer: Q.H.M. (1952)
  5. Schmidt's field balance (Horizontal)
  6. Rothé-Carpentier's balance
  7. Chasselon's magnetic theodolite (1930)
  8. La Cour's variometer (declinometer)
  9. La Cour's variometer and recording system
  10. Cambridge dip inductor
  11. Chasselon's magnetic theodolite (1956)
  12. Horizontal quartz fibre magnetograph(Q.H.M.)
  13. Marine chronometer (1955)


The magnetic observatories today :
animated presentation (in french)

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