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(1706 - 1790) 
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Ben Franklin was an author, printer, diplomat, philosopher and scientist. He is credited with founding the first public library in 1731, establishing the first fire station in Philadelphia, and inventing improvements for street paving, lighting and a device to prevent chimneys from smoking too much. Franklin began experimenting with electricity in 1747 trying to show that lightning was an electrical phenomena and that electricity had two charges, negative and positive. He is best known for his experiment of flying a kite in order to attract an electric charge during a thunderstorm. Ben Franklin was the first to use the terms: battery, condenser, conductor, charge, discharge, negative, and electrician. |