I Admire Him
I admire his energy, intelligence, forethought, curiosity, and his enormous contributions to science, public good, government, foreign policy, Ideas, organizations, and wisdom.
What follows are the things I found interesting from my limited research this time into some of his many accomplishments. Not all of his ideas are as good today as originally. For instance, mutual insurance is not so good today and daylight saving time became ludicrous with the advent of widespread electrical lighting. Originally neighbors in a community of similar values, life styles, vocations and avocations banded together to collectively bare the costs of shared maladies. It worked fine in small like-minded communities for floods, tornadoes, work accidents, childhood diseases or crippling injuries. I doubt he ever envisioned applying it to large culturally diverse nation with vastly differing values.
Franklin made many brilliant inventions and discoveries, several of scientific note like the Atlantic-Gulf stream current and lightning rods. He started many programs and institutions that affect all of our lives daily like volunteer fire department, Mutual insurance, our constitution, the bill of rights, Foreign Service, foreign policy, almanac, free library, and good sense.
Some were valuable contributions at the time, but not as good today as they have evolved and are not applied as Ben Franklin saw them.
Inventions:
Ben had poor vision and needed glasses to read. He got tired of constantly switching them for differing tasks, so he decided to figure out a way to make his glasses let him see both near and far. He had two pairs of spectacles cut in half and put half of each lens in a single frame. Today, we call them bifocals.
Ben's older brother John suffered from kidney stones and Ben wanted to help him feel better. Ben developed a flexible urinary catheter that appears to have been the first one produced in America.
As early as 1784, Franklin suggested following the Chinese model of dividing ships' holds into watertight compartments so that if a leak occurred in one compartment it could be sealed; the water would not spread throughout the other holds sinking the ship.
Nearly everyone has heard of Ben's famous kite flights, although he made important discoveries and advancements, he did not "invent" electricity. He did, however, invent the lightning rod which protected buildings and ships from lightning damage.
In colonial America, most people warmed their homes by building a fire in a fireplace even though it was kind of dangerous and used a lot of wood. Ben figured that there had to be a better way. His invention of an iron furnace stove allowed people to warm their homes less dangerously and with less wood. The furnace stove that he invented is called a Franklin stove. Interestingly enough, Ben also established the first fire company and the first fire insurance company in order to help people live more safely.
As postmaster, Ben had to figure out routes for delivering the mail. He went out riding in his carriage to measure the routes and needed a way to keep track of the distance. He invented a simple odometer and attached it to his carriage.
"Of all my inventions, the glass Armonica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction."
Benjamin Franklin was inspired to create his own version of the Armonica after listening to a concert of Handel's Water Music which was played on tuned wine glasses.
Benjamin Franklin's Armonica, created in 1761, was smaller than the originals and did not require water tuning. Benjamin Franklin's design used glasses that were blown in the proper size and thickness which created the proper pitch without having to be filled with water. The glasses were nested in each other which made the instrument more compact and playable. The glasses were mounted on a spindle which was turned by a foot treadle.
His Armonica won popularity in England and on the Continent. Beethoven and Mozart composed music for it. Benjamin Franklin, an avid musician, kept the Armonica in the blue room on the third floor of his house. He enjoyed playing Armonica/ harpsichord duets with his daughter Sally and bringing the Armonica to get-to-gethers at his friends' homes.
Ben Franklin always wondered why sailing from America to Europe took less time than going the other way. Finding the answer to this would help to speed travel, shipments and mail deliveries across the ocean. Franklin was the first scientist to study and map the Gulf Stream. He measured wind speeds and current depth, speed and temperature. Ben Franklin described the Gulf Stream as a river of warm water and mapped it as flowing north from the West Indies, along the East Coast of North America and east across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.
Ideas and Organizations
Ben Franklin believed that people should use daylight productively. He was one of the avid supporters of daylight saving time in summer.
In 1727, Benjamin Franklin, then 21, created the Junto, a group of "like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community.” The Junto was a discussion group for issues of the day; it subsequently gave rise to many organizations in Philadelphia.
Reading was a great pastime of the Junto
In 1728, Franklin had set up a printing house in partnership with Hugh Meredith and the following year became the publisher of a newspaper called The Pennsylvania Gazette. The Gazette gave Franklin a forum for agitation about a variety of local reforms and initiatives through printed essays and observations. Over time, his commentary, and his adroit cultivation of a positive image as an industrious and intellectual young man, earned him a great deal of social respect. But even after Franklin had achieved fame as a scientist and statesman, he habitually signed his letters with the unpretentious 'B. Franklin, Printer.'
Some of my favorite Franklin quotes:
“Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.”
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”
“A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.”
I admire his energy, intelligence, forethought, curiosity, and his enormous contributions to science, public good, government, foreign policy, Ideas, organizations, and wisdom. What follows are the things I found interesting from my limited research this time into some of his many accomplishments. Not all of his ideas are as good today as originally. For instance, mutual insurance is not so good today and daylight saving time became ludicrous with the advent of widespread electrical lighting. Originally neighbors in a community of similar values, life styles, vocations and avocations banded together to collectively bare the costs of shared maladies. It worked fine in small like-minded communities for floods, tornadoes, work accidents, childhood diseases or crippling injuries. I doubt he ever envisioned applying it to large culturally diverse nation with vastly differing values.
Franklin made many brilliant inventions and discoveries, several of scientific note like the Atlantic-Gulf stream current and lightning rods. He started many programs and institutions that affect all of our lives daily like volunteer fire department, Mutual insurance, our constitution, the bill of rights, Foreign Service, foreign policy, almanac, free library, and good sense.
Some were valuable contributions at the time, but not as good today as they have evolved and are not applied as Ben Franklin saw them.
Inventions:
Ben had poor vision and needed glasses to read. He got tired of constantly switching them for differing tasks, so he decided to figure out a way to make his glasses let him see both near and far. He had two pairs of spectacles cut in half and put half of each lens in a single frame. Today, we call them bifocals.
Ben's older brother John suffered from kidney stones and Ben wanted to help him feel better. Ben developed a flexible urinary catheter that appears to have been the first one produced in America.
As early as 1784, Franklin suggested following the Chinese model of dividing ships' holds into watertight compartments so that if a leak occurred in one compartment it could be sealed; the water would not spread throughout the other holds sinking the ship.
Nearly everyone has heard of Ben's famous kite flights, although he made important discoveries and advancements, he did not "invent" electricity. He did, however, invent the lightning rod which protected buildings and ships from lightning damage.
In colonial America, most people warmed their homes by building a fire in a fireplace even though it was kind of dangerous and used a lot of wood. Ben figured that there had to be a better way. His invention of an iron furnace stove allowed people to warm their homes less dangerously and with less wood. The furnace stove that he invented is called a Franklin stove. Interestingly enough, Ben also established the first fire company and the first fire insurance company in order to help people live more safely.
As postmaster, Ben had to figure out routes for delivering the mail. He went out riding in his carriage to measure the routes and needed a way to keep track of the distance. He invented a simple odometer and attached it to his carriage.
"Of all my inventions, the glass Armonica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction."
Benjamin Franklin was inspired to create his own version of the Armonica after listening to a concert of Handel's Water Music which was played on tuned wine glasses.
Benjamin Franklin's Armonica, created in 1761, was smaller than the originals and did not require water tuning. Benjamin Franklin's design used glasses that were blown in the proper size and thickness which created the proper pitch without having to be filled with water. The glasses were nested in each other which made the instrument more compact and playable. The glasses were mounted on a spindle which was turned by a foot treadle.
His Armonica won popularity in England and on the Continent. Beethoven and Mozart composed music for it. Benjamin Franklin, an avid musician, kept the Armonica in the blue room on the third floor of his house. He enjoyed playing Armonica/ harpsichord duets with his daughter Sally and bringing the Armonica to get-to-gethers at his friends' homes.
Ben Franklin always wondered why sailing from America to Europe took less time than going the other way. Finding the answer to this would help to speed travel, shipments and mail deliveries across the ocean. Franklin was the first scientist to study and map the Gulf Stream. He measured wind speeds and current depth, speed and temperature. Ben Franklin described the Gulf Stream as a river of warm water and mapped it as flowing north from the West Indies, along the East Coast of North America and east across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.
Ideas and Organizations
Ben Franklin believed that people should use daylight productively. He was one of the avid supporters of daylight saving time in summer.
In 1727, Benjamin Franklin, then 21, created the Junto, a group of "like minded aspiring artisans and tradesmen who hoped to improve themselves while they improved their community.” The Junto was a discussion group for issues of the day; it subsequently gave rise to many organizations in Philadelphia.
Reading was a great pastime of the Junto
In 1728, Franklin had set up a printing house in partnership with Hugh Meredith and the following year became the publisher of a newspaper called The Pennsylvania Gazette. The Gazette gave Franklin a forum for agitation about a variety of local reforms and initiatives through printed essays and observations. Over time, his commentary, and his adroit cultivation of a positive image as an industrious and intellectual young man, earned him a great deal of social respect. But even after Franklin had achieved fame as a scientist and statesman, he habitually signed his letters with the unpretentious 'B. Franklin, Printer.'
Some of my favorite Franklin quotes:
“Even peace may be purchased at too high a price.”
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”
“A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.”
“I conceive that the great part of the miseries of mankind are brought upon them by false estimates they have made of the value of things.”
“If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it from him.”
“No nation was ever ruined by trade.”
“There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.”
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
“Wine is constant proof that God loves us and loves to see us happy.”
“All human situations have their inconveniences. We feel those of the present but neither see nor feel those of the future; and hence we often make troublesome changes without amendment, and frequently for the worse.”
“I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.”
I think much of what America’s culture, history and government were begun by Benjamin Franklin. His enormous and unselfish contributions and legendary participation put him at the top of my list of founding fathers of the United States of America.
Too bad there have been few like him since.
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