Inventions
Lightning Rod
Electrical Engineering
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A lightning rod is a metal rod mounted on a structure to intercept a lightning strike and safely conduct the electrical discharge to the ground, protecting the building from fire or structural damage. Its invention is credited to more than one person working independently: the Czech priest and scientist Prokop Divis erected a grounded lightning rod in 1754 in what is now the Czech Republic, while the American statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin developed and popularized his own design in the American colonies around the same period, and it was Franklin's version that became far more widely adopted across Europe and North America.
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