William N. Jennings > First Photographs of Lightning

«William Nicholson Jennings became the first person to photograph lightning in 1882, thus defining the paths that lightning takes through the sky and undeniably refuting the commonly used "zigzag" design that artists had long employed. In a series of views made around 1885 to 1890, Jennings documented the appearance of several different patterns of lightning in the sky: ribbon lightning, lightning behind clouds, and vertical discharge. The powerful bursts of electricity and light illuminate the recognizable shapes of trees, branches, and rooftops, which lends a compelling reality to the evidence. Jennings made early experiments with color photography, and later made photographs of artificial lightning, experiments that eventually led to the development of "flash" photography. He is also credited with unknowingly making the first x-ray in 1890.» (A History of Photography from 1839 to the present > William S. Johnson, Mark Rice, Carla Williams > Taschen, 1999 > pp. 280-281)