Erik Larson identifies what he describes as fatal flaws in several key historical figures in Thunderstruck. The motif of fatal flaws appears throughout the text as a means of explaining actions, intentions, and motives. Larson identifies and isolates traits that explain repeated actions and motives.

Foremost in the narrative is the fatal flaw in Oliver Lodge’s character, which is described in terms of an inattentiveness to completing his research in any one area of exploration. It is a flaw that Lodge himself describes as having “been the cause of my not clinching many subjects, not following up the path on which I had set my feet” (25). Larson suggests that had Lodge continued his line of scientific inquiry into Hertzian waves in 1894, it could have been he and not Maroni who realized the vision of wireless communication. As it happened, Lodge “found himself distracted anew, at what would prove to be a critical moment in his career and in the history of science” (28).

Larson describes Marconi’s fatal flaw as “a social obtuseness that made him oblivious to how his actions affected others” (102). Throughout his life, this trait would result in lost allies, lost contracts, and the emergence of a host of foes who would rally skeptics against Marconi’s efforts.