In a world where population is increasingly huddled around coastlines, with ever larger cities, earthquakes and tsunamis have become increasingly dangerous to human populations. The Man Who Mapped The Shaking Earth documents one the world’s great scientific quests in a fascinating ride through Newfoundland, Iceland, England, the Sinai, Russia, China, Japan, and New Zealand.

John Milne was born in Rochdale, near Manchester, in 1850. At the age of 25, he worked as the first Professor of Geology at Tokyo University in the Japan of the Emperor Meiji  (1875-1895). In Japan, he invented the modern seismograph, pioneered earthquake resistant building techniques and created the first instrument-based maps of seismicity. Milne also founded the world’s first seismological society and journal. On his return to England, he established the first worldwide network of seismographs.

The Man Who Mapped The Shaking Earth was filmed in 2011, in a 28-day journey through eight countries, and is being released to coincide with the one hundredth anniversary of Milne’s death (31 July 1913). The film-maker, Dr Will Twycross, is John Milne’s great-nephew. He won the Victorian Community History award for Multimedia in 2010, and has shot the documentary in High Definition, with a sound track featuring an original musical score.
After the screening, Dr Twycross will join a panel of fellow authorities to answer questions about the life of John Milne.