The Man Who Died Replicating Ben Franklin’s Experiments
Ball lightening, a metal rod, and a dangerous design
“The new Doctrine of Lightning is, however, confirm’d by this unhappy Accident…M. Richmann being about to make Experiments on the Matter of Lightning, had supported his Rod and Wires by Electrics per se, which cut off their Communication with the Earth; and himself standing too near where the Wire terminated, help’d with his Body to compleat that Communication. It is plain the Wire conducted the Lightning to him thro’ the whole Length of the Gallery…”
— The Pennsylvania Gazette, March 5, 1754 via Founders Online
We live with a powerful force of nature all around us, which we harness without a worry.
The electricity in your house is a much tamer version of what you see in the skies during a thunderstorm. Think house cat versus Bengal tiger. However, this cat wasn’t always quite so tame when mankind first began playing with electricity. And “playing” is the perfect word for it.
Georg Wilhelm Richmann learned this firsthand as he got an unforgiving kiss from a bolt of electricity. However, before we can get to his story, we have to set the stage in the saga of electricity.
