The Man Who Plays with Lightning
Santa Barbara resident Dr. Austin Richards transforms into Dr. Megavolt at Nevada’s annual Burning Man Festival
Other than a surrounding mountain range, Nevada’s Black Rock Desert is a vast expanse of nothingness as far as the eye can see. The landscape changes dramatically this time of year when nearly 50,000 people congregate for the annual festival known as Burning Man. What is normally an empty desert transforms into the third largest city in the state. It’s a one-of-a-kind party with an overriding emphasis on creative expression. This can come in any form ranging from costumes to elaborately-customized “art cars” to avant garde performances.
Tickets to the event – which officially began last Monday and runs through tomorrow – cost around $300. However, once attendees get there, no additional money changes hands. Everything is shared or gifted and nothing (except ice and coffee) is sold. This means that everyone must be completely self-sufficient and prepared to deal with the harsh elements.
“The Playa” – as the seven-mile event area is referred to – is a salt flat with a fine dust that gets in every crevice and, word has it, is very difficult to wash off. Temperatures climb into the triple-digits and dust storms brought on by 60-mph winds can pop up at a moment’s notice. Given the severity of the conditions, it makes it all the more dramatic to see the artistic feats and technological wonders many are able to achieve.
Many who have attended Burning Man appreciate it as a forum to leave their everyday identities behind and take on more colorful personas fitting to the Bohemian atmosphere. Throughout the year, Austin Richards is a Senior Research Scientist at FLIR Systems, Inc. in Goleta working on the latest in infrared camera technology. When Burning Man comes around, he shifts into his alter ego - Dr. Megavolt.
While many think of the stereotypical festival-goer as free-spirited, artsy types, Dr. Richards, 43, represents the scientific camp of “Burners” who see the event as an opportunity to test out complex devices and theories. On and off since 1998, he has transported massive Tesla coils all the way up to the desert and put on performances for the enjoyment of the crowd. Standing atop a box truck between two coils, he is able to interact with 14-foot arcs of “lightning” thanks to a metal suit he invented.
Brian Chandler, a local artist and musician, has been to Burning Man seven times and Dr. Megavolt’s performances were always a highlight which stood out from all the other stimuli. “He is truly awesome,” he exclaims. “He attracts huge crowds and everyone is yelling ‘Dr. Megavolt.’” Recalling his first impression, Mr. Chandler relays, “I felt like he was a superhero. A superhero confused between good and evil. Actually, more mischievous than evil.”
Dr. Richards, a holder of a PhD in physics, first got interested in Tesla coils in 1975 when he admired one his neighbor built. In 1981, he started to seriously research what it took to build one based on an article in Popular Mechanics. In 1991, when he was in grad school at UC Berkeley, he built his first large-scale coil using parts obtained from the Department of Energy laboratory where he worked.
One of the most renowned inventions of Nikola Tesla, these coils are essentially air-core transformers which rapidly convert low-voltage to extremely high voltage outputs. The volts are discharged in the form of electrical arcs. Dr. Richards brings a generator to power his two nine-foot coils which are among the largest on the West Coast.
In 1998, he started out with one stationary coil which was able to run for less than an hour. The next year he applied for a grant with the Burning Man organization which funded him not only to bring a second coil, but to display them atop a truck so the show could reach a larger audience. “In 1999, that was the most intense reaction we had,” he reminisces. “That was the first time a lot of people had seen [a Tesla coil] and we had hundreds of people following the truck for hours.”
In 2000, the event was plagued by bad weather but Dr. Megavolt still managed to put on a couple of performances. He’s far from the only one to build his own Tesla coils. There are associations around the world dedicated to the hobby. However, he is the first one to invent a metal suit which enables him to be in the eye of the lightning storm, so to speak. He came up with the concept in 1997. Due to the high frequency of the electricity, the lightning runs on the outside of the suit’s metal conductors, leaving the person inside unharmed.
According to Mr. Chandler, Dr. Megavolt stands on top of the truck with a megaphone, urging people to “give him their sacrifices.” They pass him items like letters, stuffed animals or clothing they want to let go of for various reasons. They are instantly vaporized as he holds them within the currents of lightning. This could be considered in alignment with the crux of the festival which – since its inception in 1986 - has always culminated with the burning of an immense wooden effigy. Other times he invites people to stand in a cage attached to a crane which interacts with the lightning while those inside are insulated from the voltage.
Dr. Richard’s wife, Victoria Charters (aka “Mrs. Megavolt”), often takes part in the performance with him as they both don metal suits. He got “burned out” after 2006 and has taken a few years off before returning this year for his seventh appearance on The Playa.
The appeal of his act has stretched far beyond the realm of Burning Man. He has appeared on a number of television shows including Ripley’s Believe it or Not, Extraordinary People on the Discovery Channel and Wired Science on PBS. He even appeared in a commercial for Sizzler Steak House in 1999. This fall he will begin writing a graphic novel called Dr. Megavolt’s Guide to High Voltage. He has already published Alien Vision - a book about electromagnetic imaging technology.
Dr. Richards has been at Burning Man for a total of seven days this year. Like most people, he’ll stay in the shade during the day and then – weather permitting - go out at night. Someone will drive the truck around The Playa at five miles per hour while he creates a lightning storm above. When asked what drives him to make such an investment of time and energy, he reveals, “I like the attention. I work in a job where I don’t interact with that many people. Dr. Megavolt is a calling card to get people to say, ‘Hey, this is really interesting.’ It’s my artistic offering.”
Over the years, both his parents, two sisters and an uncle have all attended the festival to see Dr. Megavolt in action. In the future he hopes to commission a full-sized crane so which he can hang the coil from and stand on top of it. He understands the danger but is always striving to one-up himself. Reflecting on the man whose ingenuity made this possible, he declares, “I’d like to think Tesla would be suitably impressed.”
