Georg Matthias Bose (22 September 1710 – 17 September 1761), also known as Mathias Bose, was an electrical experimenter in the early days of the development of electrostatics. He is credited with being the first to develop a way of temporarily storing static charges by using an insulated conductor (called a prime conductor). His demonstrations and experiments raised the interests of the German scientific community and the public in the development of electrical research.
Early life He was born the son of a merchant and educated at the University of Leipzig, in the Electorate of Saxony, receiving his master's degree in 1727. In 1738, he became the professor of natural philosophy at the University of Wittenberg. As part of his course in physics, he revived experimentation with a glass-globe machine following the design of Francis Hauksbee the Elder, and he later vastly improved on the machine by adding a "prime conductor" which allowed the machine to accumulate the generated static charge at a higher level. He was said to be a flamboyant demonstrator and an assiduous self-promoter, and he corresponded extensively with the Royal Society in London and with similar groups in Prussia, France, Italy and even Istanbul.
Prime conductor
Bose's initial prime conductor consisted of an assistant standing on a block of resin (an effective insulator) holding a metal bar in one hand while touching the spinning globe with the other. The friction-generated charge would have flowed through the assistant to the metal bar and accumulated on the external surface of the bar. In effect, this was an extension of Stephen Gray's 1730 Flying Boy demonstration, but with the addition of a metal conductor which, over time, became the only effective storage device. What was novel was Bose's use of metal (the bar) at a time when it had long been accepted that only insulators (then called "electrics") could successfully accumulate static electricity. Metal conductors were known to dissipate any charge relatively quickly and the need to insulate charged objects from electrical contact with the earth was not well appreciated. Later experiments by other experimenters showed that it was not the mass of the prime conductor which set the limit of static accumulation so much as its exterior dimensions—since like-charges repel and so the cumulative effect only exists on the external skin of the conductor. For three years, from 1742 to 1745, Bose promoted the study of electricity in Germany, and became famous for spectacular experiments including one where he set alight alcoholic spirits floating on the surface of water via a spark generated by his friction machine which passed through the water. Since water and fire were seen as direct opposites, this created a minor sensation among the observers and became widely mentioned in scientific correspondence.
Electric Kiss
Bose's "Electric Kiss" (also called "Electric Venus") demonstration was immensely popular with spectators, and it was little more than a variation on Stephen Gray's "Flying Boy" demonstration. An attractive young lady was invited to stand on a block of insulating resin, and she was given a moderate static charge from a spinning globe. A young man from the audience was then invited to give her a kiss, and, in the process, the pair received a reasonable shock. This demonstration combined both the scientific illustration of charge accumulation with the naughtiness of a stolen kiss, so it became a mainstay of all electrical showmen and scientific demonstrators.
Beatification One of the public demonstrations developed by Bose became known as "Beatification", and Bose purposefully concealed the means by which he generated the effect. Eventually he was accused of fabrication, and so he revealed the technique to a colleague who published it in the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions. In essence this was an extension of his Prime Conductor developments. A person dressed in a metal helmet or suit of armour would sit on a highly insulated chair and receive a high level of static charge—enough to produce sparkling points and possibly plasma glows around conductive surfaces. Bose eventually admitted to exaggeration, and explained the effect:
Now, sir, it is true that I have embellished a little my beatification by my style and expressions; but it is also true, that the basis of the phenomenon is constant. I found in our armoury at Leipzic, [sic] a whole suit of armour, which was decked with many bullions of steel: some pointed like a nail: others in form like a wedge; others pyramidal. In the dark, you well know, that not all, but very many, of the said bullions will sparkle and glister with tails like comets: and it is clear, that when the electricity is very vigorous, the helmet on the head of the person electrized will dart forth rays like those round the head of a canonized saint; and that is my beatification.
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