Energy

For a long time, lightning and thunder were regarded as messages from divine powers, sending their wrath and destructive fire down to earth. All manner of precautions – consecrated weather candles, lightning amulets and prayers – were intended to avert the worst: “Oh, Saint Florian, protect our house, set others alight.” Yet Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) – inventor, naturalist and co-author of the American Declaration of Independence – had long since proven that thunderstorms are in fact electrical discharges and can therefore be explained quite rationally. In spectacular experiments, Franklin is said to have captured the electricity of lightning with the aid of a kite and to have conducted the first experiments with lightning conductors.

Find out more