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Georg Wilhelm Richmann (Russian: Георг Вильгельм Рихман; 22 July [O.S. 11 July] 1711 – 6 August [O.S. 26 July] 1753) was a Russian physicist of Baltic German origin who did pioneering work on electricity, atmospheric electricity, and calorimetry.^[1] He died by electrocution in St. Petersburg when struck by apparent ball lightning produced by an experiment attempting to ground the electrical discharge from a storm.

Early life and education

Richmann was born 22 July [O.S. 11 July] 1711 in the city of Pernau in Livonia, Swedish Empire (now Estonia). Richmann's father died of plague before he was born, and his mother remarried. In his early years he studied in Reval (now Estonia); later he studied in Germany at the universities of Halle and Jena.^[2]

Career

After his education, Richmann spent the rest of his life as a professor of physics at the university in St. Petersburg and a center of scientific research. There he dealt with problems of thermodynamics and with investigations of electrical phenomena.^[3]

He became famous for establishing the first general equation for calorimetric calculations.^[4]^[3] This law was later called Richmann's law in his honor.^[3]

Richmann also became famous for his investigations on thunderstorm electricity, which led to his tragic death in 1753.^[3] Richmann also worked as a tutor to the children of Count Andrei Osterman.^{[citation needed]} Richmann translated Alexander Pope's Essay on Man into German from French, which appeared in 1741.^{[citation needed]} In that year, he was also elected a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.^{[citation needed]}

Accidental death

Richmann was electrocuted in Saint Petersburg on 6 August 1753 (Old Style, 26 July 1753)^[1] while "trying to quantify the response of an insulated rod to a nearby storm."^[5] He is said to have been attending a meeting of the Academy of Sciences when he heard thunder, whereupon he ran home with his engraver to capture the event for posterity.^{[citation needed]} While the experiment was underway, a discharge reported to have been ball lightning appeared and collided with Richmann's head leaving him with a red spot on his forehead, his left shoe blown open, and parts of his clothes singed.^[1]^[6] The ball lightning arising from the apparatus was the cause of his death.^[7] An explosion followed "like that of a small Cannon"^[6]^[8] that knocked the engraver out, split the room's door frame, and tore the door off its hinges.^[6]^[7] This incident represents the first documented case of ball lightning,^[9] and Richmann appears to be the first person in history to have lost his life while conducting electrical experiments.^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Stieda, Ludwig (1889). "Richmann, Georg Wilhelm". Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie 28. pp. 442–444.
^ Georg Wilhelm Richmann from TLÜAR rahvusbibliograafia isikud
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Georg Wilhelm Richmann in Physik". Lernhelfer (Duden) (in German). Retrieved 2022-10-31.
^ Richmann, Willhelm (1750). Novi commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanae (in Latin).
^ Krider, Philip (2006). "Benjamin Franklin and Lightning Rods". Physics Today. 59 (1). American Institute of Physics: 42. Bibcode:2006PhT....59a..42K. doi:10.1063/1.2180176. S2CID 110623159. Retrieved 28 March 2022. On 6 August 1753, the Swedish scientist Georg Wilhelm Richmann was electrocuted in St. Petersburg while trying to quantify the response of an insulated rod to a nearby storm. The incident, reported worldwide, underscored the dangers inherent in experimenting with insulated rods and in using protective rods with faulty ground connections.
^ ^a ^b ^c Franklin, Benjamin (1962). "Account of the Death of Georg Richmann". The Papers of Benjamin Franklin. Yale University Press. pp. 219–221. ISBN 9780300006544.
^ ^a ^b Some but not all of the preceding details appear in Ronald W. Clarke's presentation of a description by Benjamin Franklin of the accident. See Clarke, Ronald W. (1983). Benjamin Franklin, A Biography. Random House. p. 87. ISBN 978-1-84212-272-3.
^ As reported by Sokolov, quoted in Boris N. Menshutkin, Russia's Lomonosov. Chemist, Courtier, Physicist. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1952, p. 87.
^ "May 10, 1752: First Experiment to Draw Electricity from Lightning". APS News. Vol. 9, no. 5. American Physical Society. 2000. p. 6. But one unfortunate physicist did not fare so well. Georg Wilhelm Reichmann attempted to reproduce the experiment, according to Franklin's instructions, standing inside a room. A glowing ball of charge traveled down the string, jumped to his forehead and killed him instantly - providing history with the first documented example of ball lightning in the process.
^ Swarup, Amarendra (7 June 2006). "Physicists Create Great Balls of Fire". New Scientist. Archived from the original on 19 July 2006. Retrieved 28 March 2022.