January 17, 1706, brought a great man into the world, a man who impacted the course of history. His name is Benjamin Franklin. Born in Boston, Benjamin was Josiah and Abiah Franklin’ eighth child. Josiah wanted him to join the clergy, but school was too expensive, so when Benjamin was 12, he apprenticed at his brother’s printing shop, which published The New England Courant, Boston’s first newspaper. During this time, Benjamin Franklin secretly wrote under the pseudonym “Silence Dogood.”
When he was 17, Franklin moved to Philadelphia and quickly established himself as a printer. Starting in 1732, he published Poor Richard’s Almanack for 25 continuous years. The Almanack contained many witty maxims that became part of everyday conversation. Franklin also bought the Pennsylvania Gazette, and it became the best newspaper in the colonies. In it, Franklin published his groundbreaking ideas on colonial unity, expressed by America’s first political cartoon. He helped develop Philadelphia by founding a library, fire brigade, and hospital, and in 1755 he established the University of Pennsylvania. Franklin became interested in science and invention in the 1740s, and in 1752, he experimented with electricity and lightning which helped him invent the lightning rod and the Franklin stove. He also invented a musical instrument called the armonica.
Benjamin Franklin was also involved in politics, representing Pennsylvania in the English Parliament from 1757 to 1775, and in 1776 he signed the Declaration of Independence. He then was the colonial ambassador to France during the American Revolution, and is considered the greatest diplomat of all time. After the Revolution, Franklin helped write the Constitution.
Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790, but his influence has lived on to the present. His portrait is on the hundred dollar bill, his ideas are ingrained in the government and society of America, and his experiments and discoveries greatly advanced science. Although he lived in the 1700s, he was a true Renaissance man, worthy of the company of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo.
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