Definition of Ray of Brescia

Earthquakes, hurricanes and Volcanic eruptions they are natural phenomena that can be devastating. The effects of a lightning strike are far less, but there are occasional disasters of great magnitude. This is what happened in the Italian city of Brescia on August 18, 1769. On beginning, the force lightning caused the destruction of the San Nazario tower, but it happened that there was large quantities of gunpowder and this circumstance unleashed an intense fire that caused about 3000 deaths.

The first fact that draws attention is the fact that gunpowder was stored in a religious building

This curiosity has an explanation: there was the belief that church bells served as a protective element against lightning.

As is logical, the effects of the Brescia Lightning made a change of opinion and since then the Italian church authorities decided to incorporate lightning rods in their buildings. In this sense, tragedy of Brescia had consequences throughout the continent European, since since then it took conscience of the need to use lightning rods in buildings.

The Brescia accident would have been avoided if the Italian Catholic Church had been in favor of lightning rods as a protective element

Italy is a historically Catholic country and in the eighteenth century certain scientific advances were viewed with suspicion and suspicion. According to the Catholic mentality of the time, the forces of nature were guided by the will of God and, consequently, the use of the lightning rod was considered a totally unnecessary extravagance, since none invention human could restrain divine intentions.

It should not be forgotten, on the other hand, that most mythological and religious traditions associated the rays with a divinity and were not conceived as a simple phenomenon of nature. Thus, Thor is the god of lightning in Norse mythology and in Greek mythology lightning was sent by Zeus. In Chinese mythology, lightning is represented by the goddess Tien-Mu. These types of beliefs were weakened with the time passed, but in the eighteenth century in Europe natural disasters were still explained as a punishment of God.

Franklin's invention that could avert the Brescia tragedy

The invention of the lightning rod had occurred a few years before the Brescia episode, specifically in 1752. Its inventor was the American scientist Benjamin Franklin. He knew how to explain how the force of electricity triggers the action of lightning.

In addition to the invention of the lightning rod, he is considered one of the founding fathers of the United States.

Photo: Fotolia - Alex