William Snow Harris

Sir William Snow Harris (1 April 1791 – 22 January 1867) was an English physician and electrical researcher, nicknamed Thunder-and-Lightning Harris, 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.

Read more about William Snow Harris:  Life and Work, Lightning Conductor For Ships, Selected Books

Famous quotes containing the words william, snow and/or harris:

    he might have been a Roosian,
    A French, or Turk, or Proosian,
    Or perhaps Itali-an!
    But in spite of all temptations,
    To belong to other nations,
    He remains an Englishman!
    —Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)

    These be
    Three silent things:
    The falling snow ... the hour
    Before the dawn ... the mouth of one
    Just dead.
    Adelaide Crapsey (1878–1914)

    Agnosticism is a perfectly respectable and tenable philosophical position; it is not dogmatic and makes no pronouncements about the ultimate truths of the universe. It remains open to evidence and persuasion; lacking faith, it nevertheless does not deride faith. Atheism, on the other hand, is as unyielding and dogmatic about religious belief as true believers are about heathens. It tries to use reason to demolish a structure that is not built upon reason.
    —Sydney J. Harris (1917–1986)