Wired Science

Who says you have to wait for a thunderstorm to see lightning? Heck, why not make it yourself? That may have been the thinking of renowned physicist Nikola Tesla* when created what is now known as the Tesla Coil, an instrument that transmits electric power through the air, producing visually astounding lightning-like displays. Today we no longer have Tesla, but we do have particle-physicist-turned-electric-superhero Dr. Megavolt, who brings such  displays into our studio.

Dr. Megavolt is the alter ego of Austin Richards, a physicist and digital imaging specialist based in Santa Barbara, California. In his spare time, Richards puts on his "Dr. Megavolt" hat and takes to playing with electricity—and lots of it. He might look a little odd—he dons a metallic suit and wears a birdcage on his head, after all—but he does his job well: in addition to making our in-studio lights flicker, he used his Tesla Coils to light up a neon tube, force electricity jump through glass, and make a line of pennies glow purple. He's done other cool stuff too, like shoot 15-foot bolts of lightning at himself just for fun. Ouch.

Dr. Megavolt visited our studio to show Chris Hardwick how it's all done—and scared the living daylights out of Hardwick in the process. Check out the excitement here at WIRED Science, where we know that there's nothing more fun—or crazy—than science.

Correction, Nov. 2, 2007: The article originally spelled Nikola Tesla's name incorrectly.