Professor Giuseppe Imbo, 81, a leading authority on Italian...

NAPLES, Italy -- Professor Giuseppe Imbo, 81, a leading authority on Italian volcanoes, has died at his Naples home his family reported today.

For 30 years Imbo directed the Mount Vesuvius observatory and the Earth Physics Institute at the Vesuvian university.

He was known in Naples as the Father of Vesuvius because of his unmatched knowledge of the still-active volcano. Before coming to Naples, Imbo taught physics at the University of Catania in Sicily and directed the observatory on Etna, Europe's highest and most active volcano.