Charles de Secondat Montesquieu with the scientific cenacle at Castle Clairac, France.With him are his son Jean-Baptiste de Secondat, the Chevalier de Vivens, Jacques Romas and the brothers Dutilh. Montesquieu was a political philosopher and social anthropologist.He advanced a complex climate theory proposing that climate may substantially influence the nature of man and his society. Jean Baptiste was a science enthusiast.De Romas was an enlightenment scholar with a deep interest in science. In 1753 he first carried out an experiment using a kite in a storm proving that lightning is a form of electricity. This was similar to Franklin?s famous experiment but carried out in ignorance of his work and in the presence of witnesses. The kite was built by the Dutilh brothers and De Romas first carried out his kite experiment on their estat