Ten fun facts about Prokop Divis

Fact 1
Though he completed his basic studies in 1719, he didn't begin to study philosophy in preparation to be ordained until 1726.

Fact 2
His original birth name is Vaclav Divisek; he took the name Prokop or Procopius after entering his religious training.

Fact 3
He became ordained in 1726 but began teaching philosophy in 1729.

Fact 4
He was the first person to come up with the grounded lightning rod, even though Benjamin Franklin is associated with the lightning rod.

Fact 5
He became interested in building a 'weather-machine' after Georg Richmann, a professor at St. Petersburg, was killed by lightning.

Fact 6
In 1733 he completed his doctoral dissertation and obtained his Doctor of Theology degree.

Fact 7
Emperor Francis Stephen brought Prokop to show his experiment at the Vienna Imperial Court, who gave him two gold medals.

Fact 8
While Benjamin Franklin also developed a lightning rod, the difference was that Prokop's was grounded.

Fact 9
In 1753, he created the first electrical musical instrument that could imitate the sound of other instruments.

Fact 10
A town in the Czech Republic called Zamberk has a building called the "Prokop Divis Theatre" with a lightning rod on the top of it.

More interesting reads about...

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States

Florida

Is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States.

Steve Yzerman

is a retired Canadian professional ice hockey player and currently the general manager of the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League.

John Adams

Was the second president of America, widely famous because of several historical events that marked his presidency

Benjamin Thompson

Sir Benjamin Thompson was an American-born British physicist and inventor whose challenges to established physical theory were part of the 19th century revolution in thermodynamics