Abstract
DURING the past year there have been numerous publications on ball lightning1–9, many attempting to account for the formation, properties and behaviour of lightning balls. None have questioned the reality of the phenomenon, in spite of the lack of progress toward an understanding of these baffling objects. Serious doubt about the existence of ball lightning was expressed by Humphreys10 in 1936, and more recently by Schonland11. Both regarded the phenomenon as probably an optical illusion. Now that Altschuler et al.8 have invoked nuclear reactions to account for the lightning ball it seems appropriate to re-examine the possibility of finding an explanation in the physiology of vision.
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ARGYLE, E. Ball Lightning as an Optical Illusion. Nature 230, 179–180 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1038/230179a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/230179a0
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