Summary of Erik Larson's Thunderstruck

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview:#1 The story of the debate between Lodge and Einstein began at the Royal Institution in London in 1894. Lodge was a professor of physics at the new University College of Liverpool, and his laboratory was housed in a space that had been the padded cell of a lunatic asylum. He seemed the embodiment of established British science.

#2 The Royal Institution became a sacred place for Lodge, where he could put nature’s secrets on display. He was also asked to deliver Friday Evening Discourses, and he reveled in the opportunity to put theoretical science on display.

#3 One of Lodge’s greatest distractions was the world of the supernatural. He was a member of the Society for Psychical Research, which was dedicated to examining paranormal events without prejudice or prepossession.

#4 Lodge had a deep respect for Hertz, and he was convinced that if not for his fatal propensity for distraction, he might have beaten Hertz to the history books. He spoke about Hertz’s experiments at the Royal Institution, but instead of pursuing them to conclusion, he left for a vacation in Europe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669354376

IRB Media

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Insights on Erik Larson's Thunderstruck

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The story of the debate between Lodge and Einstein began at the Royal Institution in London in 1894. Lodge was a professor of physics at the new University College of Liverpool, and his laboratory was housed in a space that had been the padded cell of a lunatic asylum. He seemed the embodiment of established British science.

#2

The Royal Institution became a sacred place for Lodge, where he could put nature’s secrets on display. He was also asked to deliver Friday Evening Discourses, and he reveled in the opportunity to put theoretical science on display.

#3

One of Lodge’s greatest distractions was the world of the supernatural. He was a member of the Society for Psychical Research, which was dedicated to examining paranormal events without prejudice or prepossession.

#4

Lodge had a deep respect for Hertz, and he was convinced that if not for his fatal propensity for distraction, he might have beaten Hertz to the history books. He spoke about Hertz’s experiments at the Royal Institution, but instead of pursuing them to conclusion, he left for a vacation in Europe.

#5

Marconi’s idea was to send messages over long distances through the air using Hertz’s invisible waves. He was young and unknown, and his mother disliked priests, but he had a pale complexion and blue eyes, which gave him a look of seriousness.

#6

Marconi grew up in Italy, near Bologna. He was a very curious and impulsive child, and his family lore held that along with his large ears, he would be able to hear the still, small voice of the air.

#7

Marconi was extremely talented at tinkering, but not at academics. His mother, who was extremely focused on education, tutored him or hired tutors for him, and allowed him to concentrate on physics and electricity.

#8

In the beginning, there was emptiness. electromagnetic energy traveled in the form of waves launched from the sun or by lightning or any random spark. When men first encountered sparks, they had no idea of their nature or cause, only that they arrived with a violence unlike anything else in the world.

#9

The study of electricity was greatly enhanced in 1745 with the invention of the Leyden jar, which could store and amplify static electricity. In 1873, James Clerk Maxwell proposed that these oscillations produced invisible electromagnetic waves, which he described in a series of famous equations.

#10

As of 1894, no means existed for communicating without wires over distances beyond the reach