William Snow Harris

William Snow Harris
Born(1791-04-01)1 April 1791
Plymouth, Devon, England
Died22 January 1867(1867-01-22) (aged 75)
Occupation(s)solicitor and physician

Sir William Snow Harris (1 April 1791 – 22 January 1867) was a British physician and electrical researcher,[1] nicknamed Thunder-and-Lightning Harris,[2] and noted for his invention of a successful system of lightning conductors for ships. It took many years of campaigning, research and successful testing before the British Royal Navy changed to Harris's conductors from their previous less effective system. One of the successful test vessels was HMS Beagle which survived lightning strikes unharmed on her famous voyage with Charles Darwin.[3][4]

Square-rigged three masted naval sailing ship moored at a port, with other ships and the seawall with buildings behind it in the background. Seen from the water, with a small boat being rowed in the foreground.
HMS Beagle was one of the first ships protected from lightning by Harris's conductors.
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference eb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Barlow 1967, p. 49
  3. ^ Uman, Martin A. (2008). The Art and Science of Lightning Protection. Cambridge University Press. pp. 175–176, 179. ISBN 978-0-521-87811-1.
  4. ^ Bernstein, Theodore & Reynolds, Terry S (1978). "Protecting the Royal Navy from Lightning, William Snow Harris and His Struggle with the British Admiralty for Fixed Lightning Conductors". IEEE Transactions on Education. 21 (1): 7–14. doi:10.1109/TE.1978.4321177. S2CID 46380992.