18TH CENTURY SCIENCE

Discourse on Atmospheric Phenomena Originating from Electrical
Force by Mikhail Lomonosov 

Mikhail Vasil’evich Lomonosov Russian contemporary of Benjamin Franklin who published his research in Advance of Franklin as documented in the Russian press and before Franklin was published in Russian 

Oratio De Meteoris Vi Electrica Ortis, Autore Michaele Lomonosow Habita

EXCERPT FROM FULL DOCUMENT PDF
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1709/1709.08847.pdf

Слово о явлениях воздушных, от электрической силы происходящих,

предложенное от Михайла Ломоносова

G.Richmann regularly reported his results in the Vedomosti – on May 7 (No. 37), on May 11 (No. 38), on May 18 (No. 40) and on July 13 (No. 56), 1753 – see Fig.1b. His communicated on efficiency of lightning protection indicate that sharp-end metal rods work best, and that dielectrics (glass) are good to hold the metal rod. Lomonosov also reported in the newspaper of June 4 (No. 45) of 1753 and was the first to establish that "power of the electricity in the air may extend beyond the area of thundering or be present even without a thunder" - that is, to detect an electric field in the atmosphere. In April 1753, the two studied whether canon shorts could affect the atmospheric electricity during the Imperial Court’s celebration fireworks which employed up to 58 canons – and seemingly found no significant effect. Fig. 2: The map (left) and photo of the Vasilievsky Island in St.Petersburg, indicating the paths of Lomonosov and Richmann from the Academy (Kunstkamera) to their homes on the 2nd Liniya and on the 5 th Liniya, respectively, on the infamous afternoon of July 26, 2753. On July 26 (o.s.), 1753, Academician Georg Richmann was tragically killed by a lightning strike while conducting the experiments – see, e.g., [3, 4] for more details. On that day, from 10am to about noon, both Richmann and Lomonosov attended Academy’s meeting at what is now Kunstkamera. Around noon they have noted a big thunderstorm cloud coming and left for their home labs: Richmann to the 5th Liniya (about 16 min from the Academy) and Lomonosov to the 2nd Liniya (24 min). Both observed strong electricity activity out of the cloud in their setups, both experienced minor shocks prior to the disaster, Lomonosov was eventually distracted by his wife (presumably, asking him to take long awaiting lunch). Richmann’s death made a great impression in the academic world as in St. Petersburg, and abroad. Detailed reports about the accident were published in the Vedomosti on August 3, 1753, as well as in some foreign periodicals, for example, in the Philosophical Transactions [20, 21], in the Memoires de l'Academie Royale de Sciences (Paris) and others. The description of the tragic death of his friend was given by Lomonosov in a well-known letter to his patron, Count Ivan Shuvalov ([8], vol.X, pp.484-485) written on the same day while still being under the impression of the tragedy: “…What I am now writing to your Excellency – needs to be considered as a miracle, for the fact that the deads do not write. I do not know yet, or at least I doubt whether I am alive or dead. I see that Mr. Richmann was killed by thunder under the exact same circumstances in which I was at the same time…. Meanwhile, Mr. Richmann died a beautiful death, performing the duties of his profession. His memory will never get silent." In the time followed, Lomonosov did a lot to arrange pension for Richmann’s widow and children and effectively cared for their well-being. 34 Shortly thereafter, on August 5, 1753, an Adviser to the Chancellery of the Academia I.Schumacher wrote to the President, who was then in Moscow, on the desirability, in his opinion, to cancel the September 6 public meeting of the Academy. Accordingly, Razumovsky canceled the meeting on September 2, i.e., just four days prior to it. Lomonosov, naturally, could not reconcile himself with the cancellation of the public meeting and pulled all possible strings and insistently sought revision of the President's decision. After much trouble, Lomonosov managed to succeed and on October 18 , the Conference of the Academy had announced a new presidential decree on the organization of the public meeting on the 25th of November with following motivation ".... so that Mr. Lomonosov would not be late with his new inventions among the scientists in Europe and by that his work on electric experiments up to this time would not in vane”. Acdemician A. Grischow was appointed an official opponent of Lomonosov presentation at a public meeting. Lomonosov first wrote the Latin version of the speech, sent it to his fellow Academicians and then himself translated it into Russian. Members of the Academic Conference A.Grischow, N.Popov and I.Braun submitted their doubts and objections on individual particular moments of Lomonosov's speech – all of which Lomonosov addressed to the Conference’s satisfaction and the approval of the publication was given on November 3. On November 16, the Conference also approved the text of the Grischow's reply to Lomonosov's speech. It was decided that both public presentations will be given in Russian. Finally, on November 26 (o.s.), 1753, Lomonosov read Discourse on Atmospheric Phenomena Originating from Electrical Force at the public meeting of the Academy of Sciences. Lomonosov's presentation, Grischow's response were published separately in Russian and separately in Latin. Later, an addendum to the Lomonosov's work, entitled Explanations, Appropriate to the Discourse on Atmospheric Phenomena Originating from Electrical Force was also published ([8], vol.III, pp.101-133). It should be considered as an integral part of the Lomonosov’s work as it contains descriptions of a number of new observations and experiments, executed by Lomonosov, and explanations of the figures and drawings attached to the Discourse – see Fig.1 above. In the Explanations Lomonosov also proves as unfounded the doubts Grischow, who tried to belittle originality of the Lomonosov's research in the field of atmospheric electricity and to attribute him the role of imitator of B.Franklin. Lomonosov points out that a) his “Discourse..” had been written and sent for publication before any communications of the Franklin theories reached Russia; b) his "theory about the cause of the electrical force in the air” has nothing taken from Franklin, even in the cases which look similar – like the origin of the Northern lights – their explanations are totally different, as Lomonosov had totally different approach based on the air up- and down-drafts; c) Lomonosov’s theory got initiated after observations of electrical phenomena right after major cold air downdrafts causing severe frosts – nothing that Franklin ever could observe in Philadelphia, d) Lomonosov has evaluated mathematically the phenomena of the up- and down-drafts in atmosphere; e) he interpreted many phenomena which Franklin did not even considered. 200 out of 300 copies of the Latin version of the Oratio De Meteoris Vi Electrica Ortis were sent abroad, to foreign honorary members of the Academy, universities, foreign academies and large libraries. In January-February of 1754 several responses to the Lomonosov work were received from L.Euler, G. Krafft, G. Heinsius. Euler's comments were rather positive: “… the mechanism proposed by the wittiest Lomonosov concerning the currents of that subtle matter in the clouds, should bring the greatest help to those who want to study the issue. His thoughts about lowering the upper air and about the sudden cruel frosts happening from this are excellent.” Some engravings from the Lomonosov’s paper were reprinted by William Watson in the account of G.Richmann’s death in the Philosophical Transactions [20]. 35 Lomonosov himself very much valued the Oratio De Meteoris Vi Electrica Ortis and listed it among his most important scientific accomplishments – see [8], v.10, p.398 and p.409 – as well as included it in the convolute of his 9 major publications, bound under the title Opera Academica just in twelve copies, which were sent abroad on very special occasions, such as, e.g., for consideration for election to the Bologna Academy of Sciences in 1764 [22]. The interest in the atmospheric electricity led Lomonosov to create the first model helicopter. In 1754, looking for a way to send meteorological instruments and electrometers aloft, he designed and built the first working helicopter model. It used two propellers rotating in opposite directions for torque compensation, and was powered by a clock spring. While Leonardo da Vinci famously left a sketch of an airscrew, Lomonosov actually constructed a proof of principle that managed to demonstrate significant measurable lift – see, e.g. [15]. Most, though not all, elements of the Lomonosov’s work are profoundly correct even by present day understanding of the phenomena. The basis of the Lomonosov theory is the idea of vertical air movements as the main cause of atmospheric electricity - the immersion of the cold upper strata of the atmosphere into the lower (warmer) layers causes mechanical friction of minuscular particles in the air against each other, that results in generation of atmospheric electricity. Two kinds of particles are required: those of water (vapors) capable of accumulation of the electricity, and other which are involved in production of the electricity via friction. The latter are organic compounds, which can not mix with water, “fatty substances…balls of flammable vapors… that appear in the air in a great variety from the body fumes of animals and humans”, products of combustion, burning and rotting of all kinds of organics. Electrically charged droplets are assumed to be spread throughout the entire volume of the cloud. The transfer of charges from individual “fatty” particles to droplets of water in the clouds via countless collisions leads to formation in atmosphere, in clouds of strong electric fields, which are the cause of the appearance of lightning. Today’s explanation of the atmospheric electricity is much more complex – see e.g. [23] – but it involves many features of the Lomonosov theory and the vertical air movements as the centerpiece. Water (micro) droplets and ice crystals of various sizes are known to be the most important elements in the formation of the atmospheric electricity. Famous American atmospheric scientist Bernard Vonnegut commented in [24] “…It is worth recognizing earlier perceptions of convection in cumuli. Lomonosov (1753) was aware of updrafts and downdrafts and suggested that friction between them caused the electrification of clouds. Again, convection was proposed as the source of electrical energy, when Grenet (1947) in France published a novel theory of cumulus electrification in which a charge deposited on the upper surface of the cloud by electrical conduction was carried down to lower levels by upper-level downdrafts to accumulate and cause lightning.” It is simply remarkable how close the illustrations of the evolution of the lightning clouds and cells depicted in Feynman’s Lectures on Physics – see, e.g., figures on page 9-6 of volume II [25] – resemble Lomonosov’s Fig.2. Involvement of organic or “fatty” particles was not confirmed in common lightning, but they been experimentally observed in a related phenomenon of ball-lightning [26]. On base of his original observations and measurements with Richmann’s electrometer, Lomonosov concluded existence of electric fields in quiet atmosphere, i.e., not during a thunderstorm but in a clear, cloudless weather. Lomonosov was also the first to correctly proclaim the presence of the electricity-generating particles and processes all over the entire volume of a thundercloud, while until the end of the 19th century, it was commonly believed that the clouds are charged only over the surfaces. Presentation and proof of the new concept of the atmospheric electricity take three quarters of the Discourse, the rest is dedicated to practical matters and expansion of the theory to other electrical 36 phenomena. It was very appropriate for a public meeting to discuss countermeasures to mitigate the risks of lightning strikes. Notably, all of them were not Lomonosov’s inventions, but instead were presented as kind of consensus among the experts. He listed three of them: hiding in underground facilities, especially those which have water above them (the method which is nor supported by any theory but supported by experience in Freiberg mines and in Japan, and sort of consistent with the notions of the water being an effective acceptor of electricity), the lightning rods with sharp edges and shaking the air. The latter two are presented without full certainty – “…could seemingly be successfully used”. Such an attitude toward the lightning rods probably indicates that Franklin ideas were not yet fully accepted in Russia and in the European scientific circles actively communicating with the St.Petersburg Academy. The shaking of ether by church bell ringing and cannon firing was ideologically consistent with Lomonosov’s views that “electric power” and lightning are due to vibrations of ether (illustrated in Lomonosov’s Figs. 12, 13 and 14). At the same time it is remarkable that though his joint studies with Richman in April 1753 did not significant effect of firing dozens of firework canons during the Imperial Court celebration, the method was still considered as generally acceptable. Again, that might reflect nothing but common understanding of the times. For expample, eminent Dutch physicist, inventor of the first electric capacitor (“Leyden jar”) Pieter van Musschenbroek (1692-1761) in the article on electricity for the famous French Encyclopedie (under “Tonnerre” [27]) stated that “…thunder can be disrupted and diverted by the sound of several bells or the firing of a cannon; in this way a great agitation is excited in the air, which disperses the parts of the lightning; but it is necessary to be careful not to ring when the cloud is precisely above the head, to avoid direct thunderbolt from the cloud splitting overhead.” Musschenbroek defended such “traditional ways” of preventing lightning as quite effective in several other publications [28]. Lomonosov was not the only one in mid-18 century who stated the electrical nature Northern lights (aurora borealis). What was original in his approach is generation of the electricity from the movement of ascending and descending air currents in upper atmosphere in the polar regions – similar to what he proposed for the lightning – and the assertion that they ignite shining of the ether above the atmosphere – concluded out fundamental similarity of the auroras to a gas discharge in vacuum or thin gas. While the former is not true, the latter is correct. Observing aurora radiance in St.Petersburg on October 16, 1753, Lomonosov, as described in Explanations, was able to measure its height with an remarkable accuracy for those years and found the upper edge of the lights reaching about 420 versts, or 450 kilometers. That is compared to modern values of typical lower boundary of auroras at 95-100 km, and the upper edge between 400km to 600 km, as a rule, but sometimes up to 1000-1100 km. Finally, Lomonosov briefly discusses the nature of comet tails, expresses doubts in the Newton’s hypothesis [29] and proposes his own, naturally explaining the tails by electricity generation in the comet atmosphere down- and up-drafts at the borders of the shade areas (as in the theory of lightning) and by radiance of the electricity-induced vibrations of ether far beyond the atmosphere (i.e., like in his theory of Northern lights. None of these effects are involved in modern explanations of the phenomena of comet tails. There are no documented evidences of the audience reaction to Lomonosov’s presentation made on November 25, 1753, but present day reader of the Discourse should definitely be impressed by Lomonosov’s wit, depth of his rational thinking and the breadth of his knowledge – he covered subjects and cited evidences from various epochs and from a wide range of sources, brought up interesting classification of various electrical phenomena in atmosphere, touched such diverse subjects as electromechanical responses of the mimosa plant [30], St.Elmo’s lights and typhoons, he paid sincere tribute to 37 his late colleague Georg Richmann and praised the support of sciences exhibited by Peter the Great and his daughter, governing Empress Elizaveta Petrovna. In 1963, by B.Vonnegut’s request, the American Meteorological Society commissioned David Krauss to translate Discourse on Atmospheric Phenomena Originating from Electrical Force from Russian to English. The draft manuscript with numerous hand-written corrections was never published and has been made available to author from the university archives at SUNY Albany, NY. Despite a number of misreadings and mis-interpetations - very much excusable because of quite heavy kind of the 18th century Russian language of Lomonosov’s Discourse - that draft has been widely used a reference for this translation.