The British Navy Resisted a Decent Lightning Rod for Decades

In the mid-18th century, Benjamin Franklin helped elucidate the nature of lightning and endorsed the protective value of lightning rods. And yet, a hundred years later, much of the public remained unconvinced. As a result, lightning continued to strike church steeples, ship masts, and other tall structures, causing severe damage. Frustrated scientists turned to visual aids to help make their case for the lightning rod. The exploding thunder house is one example. When a small amount of gunpowder was deposited inside the dollhouse-size structure and a charge was applied, the house would either explode or not, depending on whether it was ungrounded or grounded. [For more on thunder houses, see “Tiny Exploding Houses Promoted 18th-Century Lightning Rods,.” IEEE Spectrum, 1 April 2023.] Another visual aid for promoting lightning rods was an ingenious booklet by the British doctor and electrical researcher William Snow Harris. Published around 1861, Three Experimental Illustrations of a Ge ... Read full article.