Theme: Beginnings of electricity research
The international symposium was organized by National Technical Museum in Prague in cooperation with Society for the History of Science and Technology in Czech Republic like a commemoration of three hunderts anniversary of the birth of Prokop Divis - the Premonstratensian priest whose activity and main achievements of his work were realized on South Moravia.
The half of 18th C. signed the substantial progress in
experiments with electricity. Since Gilbert's electroscope
from the end of 16th C., over the frictional electric machine
of Guericke of the half of 17th C., suddenly after discovery
of Leyden bottle in the year 1745 the electric discharges
became more strong and more visible. The idea, that the
atmospherical discharges were their analogy was waiting on
its prove.
Franklin's project on suction the electricity from
storm-clouds with a sharppointed bar-lightning-conductor
(1749) was experimentally proved by Buffon and Dalibard in
Marly-la-Ville by Paris in the year 1752. Successful prove of
Franklin's hypothesis was broadcasted among European scholars
very quickly so as the news about the tragedy of George
Wilhelm Richman, who was killed (1753) by lightning during
his experiments with atmospheric electricity. Those events
iniciated further series of experiments.
Prokop Divis errected in small village by Znojmo (South
Moravia) the first earthed lightning conductor in 1754,
having followed the idea to prevent thunderstorms with
suction of atmospheric electricity from clouds. Early was
discovered electrostatic induction (J. Canton and F. U.
T Aepinus). In the year 1780 (published 1791) Luigi Galvani
recognized effect of electric charge on living organism. In
the year 1785 Ch. A. Coulomb formulated the law called after
him.
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