Searching for Murmurs of History
Frank Alvord Perret was a pioneering volcanologist who invented unique devices to measure geologic properties. One of these was a “geophone” that detected subterranean noises by amplifying the rumblings below the surface of the earth.
The photo below shows Perret listening to the whispers of volcanic activity in Campi Flegrei, a volcano located near Mount Vesuvius, which erupted and buried Pompeii and Herculaneum in A.D. 79. The archaeological site of the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum served as the architectural inspiration for the Getty Villa.
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