Tom Tucker

(Tom Tucker conducted research at The Bakken in May, 2000)

The result of my Bakken research was published in the summer of 2003.   The book is Bolt of Fate: Benjamin Franklin and his Electric Kite Hoax (Public Affairs, New York).   Although reviewers (and my subtitle) focused on Franklin’s kite, I really addressed a series of issues, many of them revisionist in approach.   These include: (1) Franklin did not get immediate acceptance at the Royal Society, but encountered plagiarism and stonewalling over a five year period (2) he likely didn’t fly the kite (3) the acceptance of his theories on the Continent lagged over several decades (4) there is intriguing evidence that the lightning rod was not installed on public buildings in Philadelphia as Franklin claimed in 1752, but instead was a technology that very slowly found its way into use (on Independence Hall perhaps as late as 1790).

The Bakken resources were invaluable to me.   Highlights included the opportunity to use the French translations of Franklin’s Experiments and Observations, Romas’ Memoir , and Tiberius Cavallo’s reports.   At the Bakken, I was also able to do my own double-checking of discrepancies between the editions of Franklin’s Experiments and Observations.   Elizabeth Ihrig, Librarian, and Ellen Kuhfeld, Curator of Electrical Instruments, steered me to some very interesting and not widely seen 18 th century illustrations important to my topic which are now reprinted in Bolt of Fate.  Kuhfeld also generously critiqued my draft from a physicist’s point of view.

I continue to do work on Franklin’s kite and the lightning rod. I would be delighted to hear from others investigating these issues. To contact me, please email me at tom.tucker1@gmail.com.

Tom Tucker