Katia and Maurice Krafft
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Katia Krafft (née Catherine Joséphine Conrad, Mulhouse, 17 April 1942 – 3 June 1991) and her husband, Maurice Krafft (Guebwiller, 25 March 1946 – 3 June 1991) were French volcanologists who died in a pyroclastic flow on Mount Unzen, in Japan, on June 3, 1991. The Kraffts were known for being pioneers in filming, photographing and recording volcanoes, often getting within feet of lava flows. Their obituary appeared in the Bulletin of Volcanology (vol. 54, pp. 613–614).
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The Mount Unzen eruption
In June 1991, while filming eruptions at Mount Unzen, they were caught in a pyroclastic flow which unexpectedly swept out of a channel other flows had been following and onto the ridge they were standing on. They were killed instantly along with 41 people, including Professor Harry Glicken, several firemen and journalists also covering the eruptions.
The work of the Kraffts was highlighted in a video issue of National Geographic, which contained a large amount of their film footage and photographs as well as interviews with both. Maurice is famous for saying in the video that "I am never afraid because I have seen so much eruptions in 23 years that even if I die tomorrow, I don't care", coincidentally on the day before his and his wife's death at Mt. Unzen.
Books
Maurice Krafft
- Guide des volcans d’Europe : généralités, France, Islande, Italie, Grèce, Allemagne..., Neuchâtel: Delachaux et Niestlé, 1974, 412 pp.
- Questions à un vulcanologue : Maurice Krafft répond, Paris: Hachette-Jeunesse, 1981, 231 pp.
- Les Volcans et leurs secrets, Paris: Nathan, 1984, 63 pp.
- Le Monde merveilleux des volcans, Paris: Hachette-Jeunesse, 1981, 58 pp.
- Les Feux de la Terre, Histoire de volcans, Paris: Découvertes Gallimard, 208 pp.
Maurice and Katia Krafft
- À l’assaut des volcans, Islande, Indonésie, Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1975, 112 pp.
- Preface by Eugène Ionesco, Les Volcans, Paris: Draeger-Vilo, 1975, 174 pp.
- La Fournaise, volcan actif de l’île de la Réunion, Saint-Denis: Éditions Roland Benard, 1977, 121 pp.
- Volcans, le réveil de la Terre, Paris: Hachette-Réalités, 1979, 158 pp.
- Dans l’antre du Diable : volcans d’Afrique, Canaries et Réunion, Paris: Presses de la Cité, 1981, 124 pp.
- Volcans et tremblements de terre, Paris: Les Deux Coqs d’Or, 1982, 78 pp.
- Volcans et dérives des continents, Paris: Hachette, 1984, 157 pp.
- Les plus beaux volcans, d’Alaska en Antarctique et Hawaï, Paris: Solar, 1985, 88 pp.
- Volcans et éruptions, Paris: Hachette-Jeunesse, 1985, 90 pp.
- Les Volcans du monde, Vevey-Lausanne: Éditions Mondo, 1986, 152 pp.
- Objectif volcans, Paris: Nathan Image, 1986, 154 pp.
- Führer zu den Virunga Vulkanen, Stuttgart: F. Enke, 1990, 187 pp.
Maurice Krafft and Roland Benard
- Au cœur de la Fournaise, Orléans: Éditions Nourault-Bénard, 1986, 220 pp.
Maurice Krafft, Katia Krafft and François-Dominique de Larouzière
- Guide des volcans d'Europe et des Canaries, Neuchâtel: Delachaux et Niestlé, 1991, 455 pp.
