Lightning: Ben Franklin was Lucky

Craig B. Smith discusses his recent book about lightening, a phenomenon that has fascinated humankind. Smith, an electrical engineer, makes the complex physics of lightning easily understood, in a non-technical way. He describes the history of the pioneering lightning researchers, some of whom got close enough to their subject to be killed by it, and explains the complex chain of events that precipitate a lightning strike.
Sat., Jan. 17, 1:30 p.m., 2009