Robert Landsburg, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

Robert Landsburg

American photographer

Date of Birth: 13-Nov-1931

Place of Birth: Seattle, Washington, United States

Date of Death: 18-May-1980

Profession: photographer

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Robert Emerson Landsburg (November 13, 1931 – May 18, 1980) was an American photographer who died while photographing the 1980 eruption of Mount St.
Helens.Landsburg was born in Seattle, Washington, and lived in Portland, Oregon, at the time of the eruption.
In the weeks leading up to the eruption, Landsburg visited the area many times in order to photographically document the changing volcano.
On the morning of May 18, he was within a few miles of the summit.
When the mountain erupted, Landsburg took photos of the rapidly approaching ash cloud.
Knowing he was going to die from the nearly supersonic pyroclastic flow about to overtake him, he rewound the film back into its case, put his camera in his backpack, and then laid himself on top of the backpack in an attempt to protect its contents.
Seventeen days later, Landsburg's body was found buried in the ash with his backpack underneath.
The film was developed and has provided geologists with valuable documentation of the historic eruption.