This day, today

June 10: General Interest
1752 : Franklin flies kite during thunderstorm



On this day in 1752, Benjamin Franklin flies a kite during a thunderstorm
and collects a charge in a Leyden jar when the kite is struck by lightning,
enabling him to demonstrate the electrical nature of lightning. Franklin
became interested in electricity in the mid-1740s, a time when much was
still unknown on the topic, and spent almost a decade conducting electrical
experiments. He coined a number of terms used today, including battery,
conductor and electrician. He also invented the lightning rod, used to
protect buildings and ships.

Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, to a candle and soap maker
named Josiah Franklin, who fathered 17 children, and his wife Abiah Folger.
Franklin's formal education ended at age 10 and he went to work as an
apprentice to his brother James, a printer. In 1723, following a dispute
with his brother, Franklin left Boston and ended up in Philadelphia, where
he found work as a printer. Following a brief stint as a printer in London,
Franklin returned to Philadelphia and became a successful businessman, whose
publishing ventures included the Pennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard's
Almanack, a collection of homespun proverbs advocating hard work and honesty
in order to get ahead. The almanac, which Franklin first published in 1733
under the pen name Richard Saunders, included such wisdom as: "Early to bed,
early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." Whether or not
Franklin followed this advice in his own life, he came to represent the
classic American overachiever. In addition to his accomplishments in
business and science, he is noted for his numerous civic contributions.
Among other things, he developed a library, insurance company, city hospital
and academy in Philadelphia that would later become the University of
Pennsylvania.

Most significantly, Franklin was one of the founding fathers of the United
States and had a career as a statesman that spanned four decades. He served
as a legislator in Pennsylvania as well as a diplomat in England and France.
He is the only politician to have signed all four documents fundamental to
the creation of the U.S.: the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty
of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris (1783), which
established peace with Great Britain, and the U.S. Constitution (1787).

Franklin died at age 84 on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia. He remains one
of the leading figures in U.S. history.


xxxxx



Fred Natividad
Livonia, Michigan


Welcome to the THIS DAY IN HISTORY
<http://emailnewsletters.aetv.com/P/v...%3B227105%3B28
57599%3B24%3B02&a=1007> daily email from History.com
<http://emailnewsletters.aetv.com/P/v...%3B227105%3B28
57599%3B24%3B02&a=1007>