Georg Wilhelm Richmann (Template:Langx; Template:OldStyleDate – Template:OldStyleDate) was a Russian physicist of Baltic German origin who did pioneering work on electricity, atmospheric electricity, and calorimetry.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> He died by electrocution in St. Petersburg when struck by apparent ball lightning produced by an experiment attempting to ground the electrical discharge from a storm.
Early life and educationEdit
Richmann was born Template:OldStyleDate in the city of Pernau in Livonia, Swedish Empire (now Estonia). Richmann's father died of plague before he was born, and his mother remarried. In his early years he studied in Reval (now Estonia); later he studied in Germany at the universities of Halle and Jena.<ref>Georg Wilhelm Richmann from TLÜAR rahvusbibliograafia isikud</ref>
CareerEdit
Template:Expand section After his education, Richmann spent the rest of his life as a professor of physics at the university in St. Petersburg and a center of scientific research. There he dealt with problems of thermodynamics and with investigations of electrical phenomena.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
He became famous for establishing the first general equation for calorimetric calculations.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":0" /> This law was later called Richmann's law in his honor.<ref name=":0" />
Richmann also became famous for his investigations on thunderstorm electricity, which led to his tragic death in 1753.<ref name=":0" /> Richmann also worked as a tutor to the children of Count Andrei Osterman.Template:Fact Richmann translated Alexander Pope's Essay on Man into German from French, which appeared in 1741.Template:Fact In that year, he was also elected a member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.Template:Fact
Accidental deathEdit
Richmann was electrocuted in Saint Petersburg on 6 August 1753 (Old Style, 26 July 1753)<ref name=":2" /> while "trying to quantify the response of an insulated rod to a nearby storm."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> He is said to have been attending a meeting of the Academy of Sciences when he heard thunder, whereupon he ran home with his engraver to capture the event for posterity.Template:Fact While the experiment was underway, a discharge reported to have been ball lightning appeared and collided with Richmann's head leaving him with a red spot on his forehead, his left shoe blown open, and parts of his clothes singed.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref> The ball lightning arising from the apparatus was the cause of his death.<ref name=Franklin_biography /> An explosion followed "like that of a small Cannon"<ref name=":3" /><ref>As reported by Sokolov, quoted in Boris N. Menshutkin, Russia's Lomonosov. Chemist, Courtier, Physicist. Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1952, p. 87.</ref> that knocked the engraver out, split the room's door frame, and tore the door off its hinges.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=Franklin_biography>Some but not all of the preceding details appear in Ronald W. Clarke's presentation of a description by Benjamin Franklin of the accident. See Template:Cite book</ref> This incident represents the first documented case of ball lightning,<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref> and Richmann appears to be the first person in history to have lost his life while conducting electrical experiments.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
