Benjamin Franklin

1
Benjamin Franklin
2
Childhood

• Born January 17, 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts
• Eighth child born to Josiah and Abiah Franklin
• Went to Grammar School

• Liked reading and writing
• Disliked arithmetic
• Left school at age 9
• Taught himself to swim
• In 1717 at age 11 invented swim fins for his
  hands

3
Childhood Continued

• Became an apprentice in his brothers printing
  shop at age 12
• At age 16 he became a vegetarian after reading a
  book about vegetarians

4
The Young Apprentice

• Secretly wrote under false name of Silence
  Dogood.
• He slipped his stories under his brothers door
  so they would get printed.
• Everyone loved Benjamins stories.
• When his brother found out he was very angry.

5
Early Adulthood

• He took over his brothers publishing of The
  Courant after his brother was put in jail.
• When his brother was released he was angry at Ben
  for taking over his paper.
• So in 1723 at the age 17 he left his family to go
  to Philadelphia.

6
Moving On.

• He moved to London in 1724 to continue his
  training as a printer.
• Then in 1726 he returned to Philadelphia to
  resume his trade to then open his own printing
  office in 1728.
• In 1729 he became sole owner and publisher of The
  Pennsylvania Gazette.
• In 1732 he began publishing Poor Richard An
  Almanac.

7
Family

• Ben marries Deborah Read Rogers in 1730 at the
  age of 24.
• They had three children. Two sons and a daughter.
  One son dies at the age of four.

8
Inventions

• Bifocals He was tired of taking his glasses on
  and off to see near and far. Bifocals are two
  pairs of spectacles cut in half and put in the
  same frame.
• Lightning rod protects building from lightning
  damage.
• Franklin Stove a safer furnace stove to warm
  homes.

9
More Inventions

• Odometer measures routes and keeps track of
  distance. He used this when delivering papers.
• Long Arm a long wooden pole with a grasping claw
  at the end to reach books.

10
The Kite Experiment

• Ben suspected that lightening was an electrical
  current in nature.
• He tested his theory by using a metal key
  attached to a kite and in June of 1752 his
  experiment was proven correct. He saw an evident
  electric spark.

11
Its Electric

• Lightening is really a stream of electrified air.
  
• Ben used lightening for experiments so he would
  not have to go through the process of creating
  electricity himself.

12
Other Accomplishments

• Signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776
• Negotiates and signs Treaty of Alliance with
  France in 1778
• Appointed Minister to France in 1779
• In 1783 he was the first man to fly in a balloon

13
The end of an era!

• Benjamin passed away on April 17, 1790 at the age
  of 84.

14
Experiment

• After your experiment go to
• http//www.mos.org/sln/toe/lightning.html
• to see if the evaluation of your hypothesis is
  correct.
• If time allows, go to http//bensguide.gpo.gov/ben
  franklin/inventor.html
• to research Ben Franklin on your own!!