Benjamin Franklin's Famous Accomplishments
Of course, Franklin is famous for his key and kite experiment that discovered electricity! But that isn't all he's done. How else would he have landed himself on the $100 bill just for discovering electricity?!?
Using his experiment results, he invented lightning rods to protect homes from the destructive nature of lightning. In the early 1750s, Franklin erected a lightning rod on top of his house for the purposes of experimentation, protection and, perhaps, to get electricity for experimentation without having to go through the laborious process of creating it himself via a primitive battery. Franklin's "iron rod" drew lightning down into his house. The rod was connected to a bell and a second bell was connected to a grounded wire. Every time there was an electrical storm, the bells would ring and sparks would illuminate his house.
Are you still wondering about his key and kite experiment? Well, Franklin made his kite out of cedar wood and a handkerchief. Attached to the tip of his kite was a sharp wire, which helped conduct the lightning down the kite and the twine connecting Franklin to his makeshift kite, and to the key. The fact that the twine was wet helped it conduct electricity (water is an excellent conductor, which is why life guards never allow you to swim during a thunderstorm, for fear of electrocution). Franklin referred to the electricity as "electric fire."
He also invented the heat-efficient Franklin stove, which was actually a metal-lined fireplace used to warm up homes in the winter, bifocals, with the top lens for seeing a distance, and the bottom half for reading, flexible catheters, for his brother suffered from kidney stones, and catheters (tubes inserted to the urethra to drain out urinal wastes) were quite rigid back in the day, which were very uncomfortable. He also invented carriage odometers to see how far a carriage travels, swim fins for the hands when he was only eleven, and the glass armonica!
Besides being an inventor, he helped found the first U.S. Hospital, the first police department, the first fire department, and the first public library. He made maps of the Gulf Stream and Routes, designed sea anchors, and more.
He has also signed some official documents, such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, as well as negotiate treaties. He alone was the only one to sign all four documents that helped create the U.S.A.
In 1753, Harvard and Yale University awarded Benjamin Franklin with honorary degrees.
Using his experiment results, he invented lightning rods to protect homes from the destructive nature of lightning. In the early 1750s, Franklin erected a lightning rod on top of his house for the purposes of experimentation, protection and, perhaps, to get electricity for experimentation without having to go through the laborious process of creating it himself via a primitive battery. Franklin's "iron rod" drew lightning down into his house. The rod was connected to a bell and a second bell was connected to a grounded wire. Every time there was an electrical storm, the bells would ring and sparks would illuminate his house.
Are you still wondering about his key and kite experiment? Well, Franklin made his kite out of cedar wood and a handkerchief. Attached to the tip of his kite was a sharp wire, which helped conduct the lightning down the kite and the twine connecting Franklin to his makeshift kite, and to the key. The fact that the twine was wet helped it conduct electricity (water is an excellent conductor, which is why life guards never allow you to swim during a thunderstorm, for fear of electrocution). Franklin referred to the electricity as "electric fire."
He also invented the heat-efficient Franklin stove, which was actually a metal-lined fireplace used to warm up homes in the winter, bifocals, with the top lens for seeing a distance, and the bottom half for reading, flexible catheters, for his brother suffered from kidney stones, and catheters (tubes inserted to the urethra to drain out urinal wastes) were quite rigid back in the day, which were very uncomfortable. He also invented carriage odometers to see how far a carriage travels, swim fins for the hands when he was only eleven, and the glass armonica!
Besides being an inventor, he helped found the first U.S. Hospital, the first police department, the first fire department, and the first public library. He made maps of the Gulf Stream and Routes, designed sea anchors, and more.
He has also signed some official documents, such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, as well as negotiate treaties. He alone was the only one to sign all four documents that helped create the U.S.A.
In 1753, Harvard and Yale University awarded Benjamin Franklin with honorary degrees.
The Best Accomplishment of ALL
However, his best accomplishment of all was marrying and having children. Franklin fathered a boy named William, who grew up to become one of the last Royal governor of New Jersey, another son named Francis, also known as Franky, who died at age four of smallpox, and a daughter, Sarah, also known as Sally, who grew up to marry a man named Richard Bache, mothered seven children, and cared for her father when he was old. William's biological mother isn't known, but Franklin married his childhood sweetheart, Deborah Read in 1730 and had his two other children, Franky and Sally.
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