Bertholon, abbé Pierre (1742-1800)

Lyonnais doctor and physicist.

Interested in lightning rods and in the medical use of electricity. Sent Franklin his Mémoire sur un nouveau moyen de se préserver de la foudre (Montpellier, 1777).

Author of numerous other scientific works including, Nouvelles preuves de l’efficacité des para-tonnerres (Montpellier, 1783), and de l’Electricité du corps humain dans l’état de santé et de maladie (Paris, 1783).

Installed some of the earliest lightning rods in Lyons and Paris, and designed a “paratonnerre” to ward off lightning.