Jean-Antoine Nollet (1700-1770), French physicist and clergyman. As a priest, he was known as Abbe Nollet. He invented an electrostatic generator and demonstrated it in public lectures. A famous example is his 'Electric Boy' demonstration where a boy hanging from insulating silk threads was given an electric charge. The static electricity generated caused items to be attracted to him, and sparks to pass between him and those who touched him. Nollet's research included experiments on the speed of electricity (1746), discoveries on osmosis (1748), and electrostatic spraying (1750). In 1753, he became the first professor of experimental physics in France. Nollet was a member of both the French Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of London. Artwork published in 1867.