Ignacy Mościcki’s Contribution to Lightning Overvoltage Protection of Power Systems

The paper presents the figure of Ignacy Mościcki as an electrician and his achievements at the beginning of the last century in the field of development and implementation new measures dedicated to lightning overvoltage protection in overhead power lines. An innovative surge arrester based on the Mościcki high-voltage capacitors and a valve arrester with appropriately selected capacitors are described. The latter type of arrester with capacitors used as a bypass for spark gaps enabled to discharge the lightning current to the ground within one half-cycle of the operating voltage, and thus, much more efficiently than with the commonly used in those days horn arrester with spark gap.