From the July 21, 1934, issue

ARTIFICIAL LIGHTNING MORE POWERFUL THAN NATURE’S

Man-made lightning rivaling nature’s own thunderbolts with electrical current of 250,000 amperes was put on display at Pittsfield, Mass., recently in a crashing, flaming exhibition by engineers of the General Electric Company’s high-voltage laboratory.

Measurements of current surges in power lines have indicated that a direct hit by a natural stroke of lightning causes the current to mount to only 150,000 amperes.