Playing with Fire

This collection of historical and scientific studies shows the impressive significance of the invention, development, and use of the lightning rod in the past 250 years. The rod was a device long taken to be a symbol of enlightenment and utility, judged by some people the very first practical application of the experimental physical sciences to truly practical ends; opposition to its introduction was similarly taken to be a sign of superstition. These essays move beyond the lightning rods’ storied revolutionary symbolism to explore the range of techniques and experiments that fashioned conductors and their varied meanings. “An intriguing and entertaining history of one of modernity’s most cherished technoscientific objects.” Illustrations.