Benjamin Franklin

Born on 17 January 1706 in Boston, Benjamin Franklin was not only an influential statesman but also a gifted scientist. His groundbreaking work with electricity made him world renowned and contributed to the beginning of modern physics. Starting in the mid 1740s, Franklin conducted experiments on electricity in collaboration with friends and neighbors, and then communicated the results in a series of letters to the Royal Society of London. Among his many insights was the idea that electrical charge is conserved. He coined a number of new words, including “battery,” which he used to describe a set of linked capacitors, and invented the lightning rod and other devices. Franklin’s scientific and political contributions inspired Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, France’s comptroller general of finance, to compose the epigram Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis (“He snatched lightning from the sky and the scepter from tyrants”).

Date in History: 17 January 1706