Frank A. Perret

Frank Alvord Perret (2 August 1867 in Hartford, Connecticut – January 12, 1943 in New York City) was an American entrepreneur, inventor, and volcanologist,[1] who was particularly well known for his studies of eruptions of Vesuvius, Kilauea and Mount Pelée.

He studied physics at Polytechnic Institute of New York University and was then employed in the laboratories of Thomas Edison in the Lower East Side, where he worked on the development of engines and dynamos.

In 1909 Perret suggested to the geophysicists Thomas Jaggar from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Reginald A. Daly of Harvard University to establish a continuous monitoring station at Kilauea.

During the three years of volcanic activity, from 1929-1932, he conducted numerous investigations and in 1931 he built a small observation hut on the Morne Lenard above the valley of the Riviere Blanch as the first permanent station on the mountain.

The founders of this enterprise included a local rum merchant, Victor Depaz, and philanthropists Vincent Astor, William L Mellon and George F Baker.