The story of Katia and Maurice Krafft: the couple fascinated by volcanoes who died crushed by lava

Katia and Maurice KrafftFrench volcanologists who not only loved each other but spent their lives, until their death, among mountains and active volcanoes.

Both scientists are protagonists of the documentathe Fire of Loveby Sara Dosa, which premiered on Disney+ and was nominated for an Academy Award.

The film is based on volcanology, which is “an observational science,” the documentary says. And the Kraffts saw more than anyone in their day.

Katia and Maurice Krafft: a bond over the years

Born in 1942 in the Rhine Valley, in French Upper Alsace, Catherine Joséphine Conrad, better known as Katia or Katja, has been interested in volcanoes since she was very young.

Later he met Maurice Krafft at the University of Strasbourg, where he studied Physics and Geochemistry. The couple bonded over their shared love of volcanoes before tying the knot in 1970.. It is not known exactly what prompted Katia to this very specific interest, but it is known that she brought a formidable intelligence to their association.

together, the Kraffts have written about 20 books and scientific articles on volcanoes around the world. In the process, they helped educate those who lived in volcanic areas about the dangers of their sleeping giant neighbors.

“Maurice and Katja have provided unprecedented photography and video of nearly every major volcanic eruption of the past 25 years,” wrote Jorg Keller in the Bulletin of Volcanology in 1992.

Keller explains that Krafft and her husband have made “great strides” in educating the public about volcanology. The footage of her was more valuable than the scientist.

For example, when Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines began showing signs of an imminent eruption in 1991, the Kraffts were able to present Philippine President Cory Aquino with pictures of the effects of the 1985 Nevado del Ruiz eruption in Colombia. request the evacuation of those who were in the danger zone.

with volcanoes to death

Gathering the information required venturing closer to the vents of the volcanoes than was humanly safe. In the 1987 documentary Volcano watchers, we see Krafft in white shorts and a T-shirt, with a heavy backpack on his back, as she, Maurice and another colleague push a loaded bicycle up a hill towards the top of an Italian volcano. They could be vacationers about to set up camp.

Katja and Maurice insisted that risk must always be calculated and minimizedbut that you had to do this kind of in-depth study,” Keller wrote in what has, sadly, become the Kraffts’ obituary.

The Kraffts were killed, along with more than 40 others, during the eruption of Mount Unzen in Japan on June 3, 1991.

They were trapped in a pyroclastic flow of rock, gas and ash that moved at speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour.with temperatures above 800 degrees Fahrenheit.

Katya was 49 years old; Maurice, 45 years old. And her romance and science also had a place in the latest installment of the Oscars.