Who was Benjamin Franklin?

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Benjamin Franklin is one of America’s best-known Founding Fathers. That means he played a very important role when the United States declared its freedom from Great Britain back in 1776. He was a very talented writer, inventor, scientist and politician! He even helped to write the Declaration of Independence!

He was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts, which was still under the control of Great Britain. When he was twelve years old, he started studying to be a printer. There weren’t home printers like we have now! Printers existed as big machines in print shops! Each letter would have to be placed by hand in a machine that stamped newspapers and other documents. Ben Franklin was very successful and eventually published Poor Richard’s Almanack, which was a very popular, yearly guide that gave news stories, advice, and even predicted the weather!

He is also known for his experiments with electricity (which no one should try at home!) He tried flying a kite in a thunderstorm, which is really dangerous because if lightning strikes the kite, it can travel down to the person holding it and really hurt them. He did it because he really wanted to understand what electricity and lightning were and if they were related (and they are!) He was able to invent a battery to store electricity and also, discover a lot more about how electricity interacts with different materials. This scientific work brought him a lot of fame around the world.

He also invented the lightning rod, a metal pole that protects houses from lightning strikes. Lightning is attracted to the pole, which safely directs it to the ground and not through the house where it can cause fires. Some of his other inventions were bifocal glasses and an iron furnace stove!

As if all that wasn’t impressive enough, Ben Franklin also helped in the American Revolution. To help the United States fight against Great Britain, he traveled to France to ask them for help, and the country agreed to donate money to help the United States win its freedom.

Ben Franklin was known worldwide for his successes, and was even considered to be the most famous American during the 1700s!

 

Imagine and Invent!

Ben Franklin also invented a type of odometer, which was a lot like the counting device on a car dashboard that tells you how many miles a car has driven! He used his odometer to figure out what the shortest routes were for delivering the mail.

Many times in his life he would see a problem and then he would get creative until he found a solution. All you need is creative thinking to be an inventor!

Are there any problems you that you wish were easier to deal with or figure out? Maybe you don’t like brushing your teeth. Could you think of a device that would make brushing your teeth fun? Do your crayons break sometimes when you’re coloring? Maybe you can invent some sort of sleeve that makes crayons stronger! You don’t actually have to make them, but try drawing a picture of your inventions! You might come across something really good, and then you’ll be a well-known inventor too!