The School of Engineering and Digital Arts’ Jennison Lecture Theatre was fully booked on Wednesday 22nd October at 6 pm for the inaugural Jennison Lecture, kindly sponsored by the IET which featured Rhys Phillips, Research Engineer, Lightning & Electrostatics, from Airbus Group Innovations UK delivering an informative and entertaining presentation on ‘Thunderbolts and Lightning – are they really frightening?’
Paraphrasing that famous line from Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, Rhys looked at the phenomenon of lightning and explained, with lots of audience participation, the processes which lead to a lightning strike and the different types of lightning that can exist.
The lecture, the first in a series of six organised and hosted by EDA to celebrate the University of Kent’s 50th anniversary, included a special homage to the late Professor Roger Jennison, founder of EDA, and his work on ball lightning.