Science Frontiers ONLINE No. 79: Jan-Feb 1992 Issue Contents

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Man-killer lightning

From category GLL8 in Lightning, Auroras, Nocturnal Lights, we know of lightning's preference for oaks over other trees in mixed forests; now it seems that a search of death records show that men are far more often killed by lightning than women. P.E. Brown checked the figures for England and Wales for the years 1974-1989, when 56 people were listed as killed by lightning. Of these 48 were male, 8 female. Brown supposes that the preponderance of male deaths is due to males being more likely to be outside in exposed areas. (Brown, Paul R.; "Lightning Deaths and Sex," Journal of Meteorology, U.K., 16:244, 1991.)

Reference. The book mentioned above is described here.

From Science Frontiers #79, JAN-FEB 1992. © 1992-2000 William R. Corliss

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Science Frontiers Sourcebook Project Reviewed in: Icarus: Volume 41, Issue 3, p. 470-470 1984, Vol.56:3, P.615 1983, Vol.58:3 June 1984, Vol.60:3 Dec 1984, Vol.72:3 Dec 1987 Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Vol. 81, no. 1 1987 American Journal of Physics, Volume 52, Issue 8, p. 764 August 1984 Quotes "Before opening the book, I set certain standards that a volume which treads into dangerous grounds grounds like this must meet. The author scrupulously met, or even exceeded those standards. Each phenomenon is exhaustively documented, with references to scientific journals [..] and extensive quotations" -- "Book Review: The moon and planets: a catalog of astronomical anomalies", The Sourcebook Project, 1985., Corliss, W. R., Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada>, Vol. 81, no. 1 (1987), p. 24., 02/1987