Giuseppe Mercalli

Biography

Born in Milan, Mercalli was ordained a Roman Catholic priest and soon became a professor of Natural Sciences at the seminary of Milan. The Italian government appointed him a professor at Domodossola, followed by a job at Reggio di Calabria. He was professor of geology at the University of Catania during the late 1880s and finally was given a job at Naples University. He was also director of the Vesuvius Observatory until the time of his death.

Giuseppe Mercalli also observed eruptions of the volcanoes Stromboli and Vulcano in the Aeolian Islands. His descriptions of these eruptions became the basis for two indices of the volcanic explosivity index: 1 – Strombolian eruption, and 2 – Vulcanian eruption. He also photographed Vesuvius immediately after its eruption in 1906.

In 1914, Mercalli burnt to death under suspicious circumstances, allegedly after knocking over a paraffin lamp in his bedroom. He is thought to have been working through the night, as he often did (he once was found working at 11 a.m. when he had set an examination, upon hearing which he replied, "It surely can't be daylight yet!"), when the fatal accident occurred. His body was found, carbonized, by his bed, holding a blanket which he apparently attempted to use to fend off the flames. The authorities, however, stated a few days later that the professor was quite possibly murdered by strangling and soaked in petrol and burned to conceal the crime because they determined that some money (now worth about $1,400) was missing from the professor's apartment.