Bert Hickman
Bert Hickman | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Lichtenberg figures ("captured lightning") in acrylic; Tesla coils; shrunken coins |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | High-voltage engineering |
| Institutions | Stoneridge Engineering |
Bert Hickman is an American retired electrical engineer known for his high-voltage experimentation and for producing Lichtenberg figures, which he markets as "captured lightning" sculptures. He is listed in The Worldwide List of Dissident Scientists.
Work
Hickman runs Stoneridge Engineering, an Illinois-based operation, and maintains the "Captured Lightning" (formerly TeslaMania) website. He is best known for creating three-dimensional Lichtenberg figures by injecting high-energy electrons into blocks of clear acrylic using a high-power electron-beam accelerator (a Dynamitron), producing branching, tree-like electrical discharge patterns frozen inside the solid polymer. His work has been featured in popular-science and art writing, including Cabinet magazine.
His site also documents Tesla coils and other high-voltage apparatus, a "Nikola Tesla Information Center," and "quarter shrinking," in which strong pulsed magnetic fields compress coins; the shrunken-coin work was covered in Coin World magazine. Alongside the technical material, the site emphasizes the extreme hazards of high-voltage work and warns against attempting the experiments at home.