Benjamin Franklin

Who is Benjamin Franklin?

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston and became one of the most versatile figures of the American Enlightenment: a printer, author, scientist, inventor, statesman, and diplomat. As a printer he published the Pennsylvania Gazette and the widely read Poor Richard's Almanack, filled with proverbs on thrift and industry. His experiments with electricity, including the famous kite experiment, earned him international scientific fame, and he invented the lightning rod, bifocal glasses, and the Franklin stove. Politically, he was a leading Founding Father: he helped draft and signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, secured a crucial alliance with France as American minister during the Revolutionary War, and signed the Treaty of Paris (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787). A tireless civic organizer, he helped found a library, a fire company, a university, and a hospital in Philadelphia. His Autobiography remains a classic of American letters.

Sources: Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (published 1791) · Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard's Almanack (1732-1758) · Walter Isaacson, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003)