Frank A. Perret

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Frank Alvord Perret (born August 2, 1867 in Philadelphia , † January 12, 1943 in New York City ) was an American entrepreneur, inventor and volcanologist who attracted particular attention with his research on Vesuvius , Kilauea and Montagne Pelée made.

Frank A. Perret (1909)

Life

Perret studied physics at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and then got a job in Thomas Alva Edison's laboratories in the Lower East Side , where he worked on the development of motors and dynamos . In 1886 he founded the Elektron Manufacturing Company with John A. Barret, a small company that designed and manufactured electronic devices. However, his partner left the project very quickly to pursue the further development of his patented battery. Frank A. Perret immersed himself in the development of the theory of counter electromotive force ( s .: counter-electromotive force , CEMF). He obtained the necessary energy from direct current motors and invented the Perret electric motor. In 1889, Perret hired Elihu H. Cutler to oversee the company's expansion, and demand soon exceeded production capacity, so another factory was built in Springfield , Massachusetts . Around 1900, Perret traveled to Italy to improve his health , where he met the director of the volcanological laboratory in the government observatory on Vesuvius, RV Matteucci. It can be assumed that he introduced him to volcanology and began to be interested in it. Due to ongoing health problems, he left in 1904 his company, whose lift production in 1906 by the Otis Elevator Company was acquired.

Also in 1906, together with Matteucci, he observed an eruption of Vesuvius , which he was to investigate until 1921. In an obituary for Perret published in 1950, Mildred Giblin attested that his monograph on Vesuvius was "the clearest and most complete report that has ever been published on a volcanic eruption and its aftermath". By the end of the first decade of the 20th century, Perret also toured Kilauea , Stromboli , Etna , Teide and Sakurajima . In 1909 he decided that the geophysicist Thomas A. Jagar of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Reginald A. Daly of Harvard University , set up a permanent monitoring station at Kilauea. This plan was implemented in 1911 on the edge of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater . The station was the forerunner of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, built the following year, and Perret began his research at Kilauea in January 1912. When the Montagne Pelée on the French Caribbean island of Martinique became active again in 1929 - 27 years after the devastating outbreak with an estimated 40,000 deaths - Perret was one of the first scientists on site. In the three years of volcanic activity up to 1932 he carried out countless investigations and in 1931 he built a small observation hut on the Morne Lénard above the valley of the Rivière Blanche as the first permanent station on the mountain. Perret stayed on the island more or less continuously for about ten years. He was extremely popular with the population and in 1932 he donated the volcanological museum to the city of Saint-Pierre , which, according to his ideas, should both remember and educate. Nowadays it bears his name in his honor.

In 1940 Frank A. Perret returned to the United States and wrote several books, most of which he was unable to publish. He died at the age of 76.

Quote

“The scientific contributions of Mr. Perret are unique in that no other volcanologist has had the time or opportunity to make such extensive and varied observations on so many types of active volcanoes. He was a daring and astute researcher, tireless in his search for information. He was a skilled and demanding photographer and his publications are lavishly illustrated with excellent, picturesque shots. "

- Mildred Giblin in an obituary for her fellow researcher

Fonts

  • The lava fountains of Kilauea in American Journal of Science , No. 4, 1913, pp. 139-148
  • The circulatory system in the Halemaumau lava lake during the summer of 1911 in American Journal of Science , No. 4, 1913, pages 337-349
  • Volcanic research at Kilauea in the summer of 1911 in American Journal of Science , No. 4, 1913, pages 475-488
  • The Eruption of Mont Pelee 1929-1932 . Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 458, Washington, DC , 1935
  • What to expect of a volcano in Natural History , No. 2, 1937, pp. 99-105
  • (with Mildred Giblin): Article in Bulletin of Volcanology , 1950, pages 191-195
  • Volcanological Observations , Carnegie Institution of Washington, Publication 549, Washington, DC , 1950

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "Frank A. Perret" in library.gl.ciw.edu ( Carnegie Institution for Science ). Retrieved February 28, 2010
personal data
SURNAME Perret, Frank A.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Perret, Frank Alvord (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American entrepreneur, inventor, and volcanologist
DATE OF BIRTH August 2, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , United States
DATE OF DEATH January 12, 1943
Place of death New York City , New York , United States