Benjamin Franklin, Scientist and Inventor

(From The Blackbirch Encyclopedia of Science & Invention, available in Kids InfoBits, which includes ReadSpeaker text-to-speech technology. Free trial.)

Benjamin Franklin's most famous scientific contributions were in the field of electricity. He began experimenting with electricity in 1746, when scientists believed there were two kinds of electricity--one that attracted, another that repelled. Franklin showed that there is only one kind of electricity, which flows from a body that has a positive charge to one that has a negative charge.

In 1752, Franklin made a kite with a small metal rod at its top and a metal key at the bottom of its string. He flew the kite during a thunderstorm. After lightning hit the metal rod Franklin put his hand near the key. A spark jumped from the key to Franklin's knuckle, proving he had drawn electricity from the clouds down through the kite to the key. He collected some of the electricity in a device called a Leyden jar and later showed that it behaves exactly like other forms of electricity.

Franklin invented the lightning rod, bifocal glasses, an odometer to keep track of distance traveled, and an efficient iron heating stove today known as the Franklin stove. He was one of the first to chart the Gulf Stream, a current in the Atlantic Ocean.

Being ignorant is not so much a shame as being unwilling to learn – Benjamin Franklin