Ben Franklins Life To Death

• BEN FRANKLIN LIFE TO DEATH
• By Risa Cummiskey

NAME: Benjamin Franklin

OCCUPATION: Inventor, Political Leader, Scientist, Writer

BIRTH DATE: January 17, 1706

DEATH DATE: April 17, 1790

EDUCATION: Boston Latin School

PLACE OF BIRTH: Boston, Massachusetts

PLACE OF DEATH: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

AKA: Ben Franklin

Office in Philadelphia 1729 Becomes sole owner and publisher of the Pennsylvania Gazette 1730 Marries Deborah Read Rogers 1731 Birth of Ben's son William;

Printer, Publisher, Scientist. Clerk of the Pennsylvania Assembly, 1736; Founded the Library Company of Philadelphia, 1731; Postmaster of Philadelphia, 1737-1753; Member of Pennsylvania Assembly, 1751-1764; Deputy Postmaster general of the British colonies in America, 1753; Founded Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia, 1753; Agent to Europe for Pennsylvania, 1757-1762, for Pennsylvania, Georgia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, 1764-1775; Elected to Continental Congress, 1775; Testified before Parliament concerning the Stamp Act, 1776; Postmaster General of the united colonies, 1775; Commissioner to the French Court, 1776; Minister plenipotentiary to the French Court, 1779; Negotiator in and Member of the Treaties with Gr.-Britain, 1781-1783; Member of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, President of Pennsylvania Society for the Abolition of Slavery, 1785; Senior member of the Constitutional Convention, 1787.

Electricity was on people's minds in the 1740s, but not in the way we think about it today. People used electricity for magic tricks by creating sparks and shocks. Scientists conducted experiments with electricity, but scientific thinking about electricity had not changed much in hundreds of years. Electricity wasn't "useful" yet.

Benjamin Franklin was interested in electricity. Being a curious and inventive thinker, Franklin wanted to know more than just the popular tricks. He kept thinking about electricity and came up with a very important ideHis idea was about electricity and lightning. Franklin noticed several similarities between the two: They both created light, made loud crashes when they exploded, were attracted to metal, had a particular smell, and more. Based on these observations, Franklin thought electricity and lightning were the same thing. A few people shared his belief, but no one had ever tested it.

Franklin wrote up his thoughts on electricity in several letters to a fellow scientist who lived in London. This scientist and other scientists in London thought Franklin's letters contained valuable information, so in 1751 they published them in a little book, Experiments and Observations on Electricity.

One of the letters contained Franklin's plan for how to prove that electricity and lightning were the same. His plan required something tall, like a hill or a tall building, but Philadelphia had neither at the time. While Franklin was waiting for a tall building to be built, he came up with another plan. This one involved a key and a kite

a. Franklin needed something to get close enough to the clouds to attract the lightning. He couldn't get up there since Philadelphia didn't have any hills or tall buildings. He did have a silk handkerchief, a couple of sticks and some string, so instead of getting himself up near the lightning, he flew a kite up to it. And it worked! Franklin and a few other scientists in Europe (who did their own experiments) proved that lightning and electricity were the same thing.

But that wasn't enough for Franklin. He believed that this knowledge should be used for practical purposes.

What could be practical about lightning? Many folks knew what wasn't practical: having your house burn down because it was struck by lightning. Franklin thought he could help. He knew that lightning usually hit the highest part of a building. He also knew that the electrical current in lightning could start a fire. So he invented the lightning rod. A lightning rod is made of metal and is attached to the highest point on a house. The lightning hits the rod instead of the house, and the electrical current from the lightning goes into the ground and leaves the house undamaged. Franklin thought the lightning rod was his most important invention.

              Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in colonial Boston. His father,      Josiah Franklin (1657-1745), a native of England, was a candle and soap maker who married twice and had 17 children. Franklin’s mother was Abiah Folger (1667-1752) of Nantucket,Massachusetts,  Josiah’s second wife. Franklin was the eighth of Abiah and Josiah’s 10 offspring.

Franklin’s formal education was limited and ended when he was 10; however, he was an avid reader and taught himself to become a skilled writer. In 1718, at age 12, he was apprenticed to his older brother James, a Boston printer. By age 16, Franklin was contributing essays (under the pseudonym Silence Dogood) to a newspaper published by his brother. At age 17, Franklin ran away from his apprenticeship to Philadelphia, where he found work as a printer. In late 1724, he traveled to London, England, and again found employment in the printing business.

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in colonial Boston. His father, Josiah Franklin (1657-1745), a native of England, was a candle and soap maker who married twice and had 17 children. Franklin’s mother was Abiah Folger (1667-1752) of Nantucket,Massachusetts,  Josiah’s second wife. Franklin was the eighth of Abiah and Josiah’s 10 offspring.

Franklin’s formal education was limited and ended when he was 10; however, he was an avid reader and taught himself to become a skilled writer. In 1718, at age 12, he was apprenticed to his older brother James, a Boston printer. By age 16, Franklin was contributing essays (under the pseudonym Silence Dogood) to a newspaper published by his brother. At age 17, Franklin ran away from his apprenticeship to Philadelphia, where he found work as a printer. In late 1724, he traveled to London, England, and again found employment in the printing business.

Benjamin Franklin is the only founding father to have signed all four of the key documents establishing the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris establishing peace with Great Britain (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787).

In 1785, Franklin left France and returned once again to Philadelphia. In 1787, he was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention. (The 81-year-old Franklin was the convention’s oldest delegate.) At the end of the convention, in September 1787, he urged his fellow delegates to support the heavily debated new document. The U.S. Constitution was ratified by the required nine states in June 1788, and George Washington (1732-99) was inaugurated as America’s first president in April 1789.

Franklin died a year later, at age 84, on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia. Following a funeral that was attended by an estimated 20,000 people, he was buried in Philadelphia’s Christ Church cemetery. In his will, he left money to Boston and Philadelphia, which was later used to establish a trade school and a science museum and fund scholarships and other community projects.

More than 200 years after his death, Franklin remains one of the most celebrated figures in U.S. history. His image appears on the $100 bill, and towns, schools and businesses across America are named for him.