Thera. Pompeii. Hatepe. Tambora. Martinique. These are some of the cities that share one thing in common - they were totally decimated by volcanic eruption. At 31 years young, Thomas Jagger, the father of modern volcanology, went to visit the little island of Martinique after Mount Pelee erupted, killing a score of 30,000 people and laid waste to the entire city of St. Pierre.  From that point onwards, Jagger dedicated his entire life studying, probing, measuring and predicting volcanic eruption worldwide.  Today, every volcanologist is indebted to him for developing and pioneering this unique research area.