IEEE EMC Society Chapter Meeting:
Topic: Lightning Protection
Thursday, December 8, 2022
Atlanta, GA

One million volts dances on her hand. Over 300 times per year, Lady Liberty gets a dose of electrons from the heavens. Since 1886, she has stood in the harbor of New York City. Her torch aloft, welcoming millions of people to our country, a light in the West, beckoning and promising.

She stands alone, six hundred feet above the waters, wearing a patina of copper, like so many billions of pennies hammered together, a sheath that shrouds her design: elegant and timeless.

Eiffel designed her structure, Bartholdi her form. Liberty Enlightening the World is her formal name, but to so many crossing the Atlantic, a promise of new beginnings. But she has been struck, countless times, by Thor and his mates in the clouds. Protecting the Statue of Liberty was a unique gig in our earlier days, where we were consultants on the lightning protection design of the iconic structure. Norm Violette, PhD, our principal expert, loved the topic of lightning and worked the world solving and teaching techniques that date to Benjamin Franklin and before.

We share some thoughts on lightning in Georgia, the 8th highest state in terms of density of lightning strikes per square mile,
where the storms can be fierce and fire from the sky a madness. We welcome you to join our discussion, where we will share some
lightning phenomenology, protection ingredients and a peek at some documents that will be of interest to us all.

Schedule:
Thursday, December 8, 2022
11:00 am – 11:30 am: Lunch provided by IM/EMC Chapter
11:30 am – 12:30 pm: Presentation
12:30 pm – 1:00 pm: Question and Answer Session

Venue:
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Building 11, Room 1026
2001 Dixie Ave SE
Smyrna, Georgia 30080

Presenter:
Mike Violette has been working on lightning protection design and mitigation since 1984. He has performed numerous surveys and equipment-level tests to protect systems and circuits from this phenomenon. He is cofounder and director of Washington Laboratories and American Certification Body, working in North America, Asia, and Europe.