Past Forward: The British Navy Resisted a Decent Lightning Rod for Decades: Inventors vs. Bureaucrats During the Age of Sail

In the mid-18th century, Benjamin Franklin helped elucidate the nature of lightning and endorsed the protective value of lightning rods. And yet, a hundred years later, much of the public remained unconvinced. As a result, lightning continued to strike church steeples, ship masts, and other tall structures, causing severe damage.