Published: July 2001 by: New Scientist

Lucy Jago journeys across a waste of time, not sand, of ruined hopes rather than cities. In The Northern Lights, she brings to life the long quest by Norwegian physicist Kristian Birkeland to find the cause of these enigmatic light shows: Set against the rise of Norwegian nationalism and the political climate of the early 20th century, her fine historical research and a grasp of physics create a gripping biography of an extraordinary pioneer.

Birkeland invented a furnace for generating nitrogen fertiliser and held patents as diverse as an electromagnetic cannon and a thermal blanket, which helped pay for his research. Money, health and marriage were secondary to his passion to explain the ethereal celestial phenomena that haunted him.

His work was cutting-edge and exceedingly dangerous. In his attempts to recreate the northern lights, Birkeland and his assistants worked with one hand in their pocket to ensure that shocks would run to earth and not across their hearts. He died of the barbiturate he used to maintain his frantic lifestyle.