Thunder and lightning
By Anne Locker What connects meteorology, the siege of Paris and the first air mail deliveries? A book in the IET Library’s S P Thompson Study Collection, Thunder and Lightning by Wilfrid de Fonvielle. Thunder and Lightning (1868) The original text of Thunder and Lightning , titled Éclairs et tonnerre , was published in France in 1867 and ran to four editions. This English translation by T L Phipson was published in 1868. The book is a colourful description of the causes and effects of thunder and lightning, taken from scientific studies, newspaper reports and folk literature. Wilfrid de Fonvielle was born in Paris on 25 July 1826. He was a journalist, popular science writer and meteorologist but is best known as a balloonist. In 1867, de Fonvielle was writing about the wonders of…