Exploratorium After Dark – Electrifying Science After Dark with Dr. MegaVolt®
Dr. MegaVolt® Jousts High Voltage Tesla Coils to 200,000 Volts
Discharged in the Form of Astonishing Electrical Arcs
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Exploratorium After Dark – Special 40th Anniversary Evening, 6-10pm
Cocktails, Conversation, and Adult-Oriented Programming

Blow your mind with the electrifying science of Tesla coils and Austin Richards, Ph.D. – aka, Dr. MegaVolt®. This electrifying Exploratorium Science After Dark event will feature Dr. Megavolt® jousting with 14-ft. electrical arcs from his high voltage Tesla Coil on the evening of Thursday, November 5, 2009, a special 40th Anniversary event, from 6-10pm. This event is included in the price of admission to the Exploratorium. To sign up for the Exploratorium’s After Dark email list and receive event details, contact afterdark@exploratorium.edu.

Austin Richards received his Ph.D. in particle physics working on the AMANDA project (a radically different telescope that responds to a fundamental particle called a neutrino instead of light), but has been building Tesla coils since 1981 and performing with them since 1997. He holds a Ph.D. in particle physics from UC Berkeley and a Physics B.A. from Amherst College, and has worked professionally on high-voltage systems since 1987.

[Show as slideshow]

Tesla coils were a childhood obsession. Richards saw his first in 1975 when a neighbor built one. Impressed by the aesthetics – electricity is something that we rarely see, as it usually stays imprisoned inside electrical wires, like a genie in a bottle – he began to pursue making his own coils. He built a 9-ft-tall machine while still a graduate student at UC Berkeley with the help of Paul O’Leary. In 1996, at his request, members of Survival Research Laboratory built a cage out of chain link fence to protect him from Tesla coil currents, and Richards got inside the cage for a stunt at a party. In 1998, Dr. MegaVolt® took the Tesla coil and original MegaVolt® suit to Burning Man and performed there. This began a string of very popular shows, and a very high profile at Burning Man.

Watch video of Dr. MegaVolt® here.

The Tesla coil is one of Nikola Tesla’s most famous inventions, dating from 1891. It is essentially a high-frequency air-core transformer. It takes low voltage line current in several stages up to extremely high voltage. Tesla coils can generate very long electrical discharges for a relatively low voltage. Machines have been built that can shoot electrical discharges up to 40 feet.

Exploratorium After Dark is new extended evening hours on the first Thursday of every month at the Exploratorium that mix cocktails, conversation, and adult-oriented programming in science and the arts. Each night showcases a different theme, which might include live performances, films, and new media, or feature cutting-edge technology and unexpected extravaganzas. Programs are playful, unusual, and content-rich, and address the science behind topics of adult interest—from gambling, alcohol, fashion, and sex to extreme sports and gaming. Not a theater, a cabaret, or a gallery, Exploratorium After Dark involves aspects of all three, with a mood unlike anything else in the city. Where else can you find music, a cash bar, and an intellectually stimulating playground for adults—all with free parking?

Check out http://www.exploratorium.edu/40th/