What happened
Georg Wilhelm Richmann, a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences and a colleague of Mikhail Lomonosov, studied atmospheric electricity using an insulated rod run up to the roof of his house. On August 6, 1753 (July 26 in the Julian calendar), he heard thunder during a meeting of the Academy and hurried home with the engraver Ivan Sokolov to measure the charge during the storm. As he stood by the instrument, according to Sokolov, a pale blue ball of fire the size of a fist leaped from the rod and struck him on the forehead. Richmann was killed instantly, the engraver lost consciousness, the doorframe was split, and the door was torn from its hinges. The scientist’s death reverberated throughout Europe – he was the first casualty of electrical research.
Witnesses
The engraver Ivan Sokolov, who accompanied Richmann and survived the strike; the circumstances were also described by Mikhail Lomonosov.
Explanations and hypotheses
Richmann was killed by a lightning discharge conducted through an ungrounded apparatus. The description of the ball is cited as a possible case of ball lightning, but it may also have been an electric arc or a spark discharge between the rod and the researcher’s head. The nature of ball lightning remains a subject of research.
Disputed A likely explanation exists, but some of the facts are still disputed.
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