Draw the Lightning Down: Benjamin Franklin and Electrical Technology in the Age of Enlightenment

by Michael Brian Schiffer

Most of us know—at least we've heard—that Benjamin Franklin conducted some kind of electrical experiment with a kite. What few of us realize—and what this book makes powerfully clear—is that Franklin played a major role in laying the foundations of modern electrical science and technology. This fast-paced book, rich with historical details and anecdotes, brings to life Franklin, the large international network of scientists and inventors in which he played a key role, and their amazing inventions. We learn what these early electrical devices—from lights and motors to musical and medical instruments—looked like, how they worked, and what their utilitarian and symbolic meanings were for those who invented and used them. Against the fascinating panorama of life in the eighteenth century, Michael Brian Schiffer tells the story of the very beginnings of our modern electrical world.

The earliest electrical technologies were conceived in the laboratory apparatus of physicists; because of their surprising and diverse effects, however, these technologies rapidly made their way into many other communities and activities. Schiffer conducts us from community to community, showing how these technologies worked as they were put to use in public lectures, revolutionary experiments in chemistry and biology, and medical therapy. This story brings to light the arcane and long-forgotten inventions that made way for many modern technologies—including lightning rods (Franklin's invention), cardiac stimulation, xerography, and the internal combustion engine—and richly conveys the complex relationships among science, technology, and culture.

Genres: Nonfiction

397 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Michael Brian Schiffer is Fred A. Riecker Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the University of Arizona and Research Associate at the Lemelson Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. He is the author of six previous books on technology.

Reviews

[Thomas Hay · Rating 5 out of 5]

The only downside to this book is that it's not really about Benjamin Franklin. Thankfully the wider subject matter of electrical technology in the enlightenment is more than enough to engage, amuse and fascinate on its own. Static electricity was first explored during the 18th century, with one of the favoured ways of generating it involving the back of a cat. The experiments, technologies and public spectacles that it produced are awe inspiring, fascinating and hilarious in equal measure. The saying that you have a ‘spark’ with someone for example comes from the electrified venus experiment, where you would statically charge a woman and dare men to kiss her in a darkened room. There is so much more, and this book richly, humorously and often scientifically conveys an exciting and somewhat chaotic time of experimentation and discovery.