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Benjamin Franklin biography, information, personal life
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706 April 17, 1790) was a politician, diplomat, scientist, inventor, writer, journalist, publisher, and Freemason.
One of the leaders of the War of Independence of the United States.
Benjamin Franklin is the only one of the founding fathers who signed all three of the most important historical documents that underlie the formation of the United States of America as an independent state: The Declaration of Independence of the United States, the US Constitution and the Treaty of Versailles of 1783 (the Second Paris Peace Treaty), which formally ended the war of independence of the thirteen British colonies in North America from Great Britain.
One of the developers of the design of the Great State Seal of the United States (the Great Seal).
The first American to become a foreign member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The portrait of Benjamin Franklin has been on a hundred dollar bill of the US Federal Reserve System since 1914.
Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 in Boston.
He was the 15th child in the family (17 children in total) of an emigrant from England, Josiah Franklin (1652-1745) — a craftsman engaged in the manufacture of soap and candles.
He received his education independently.
Josiah wanted his son to go to school, but he only had enough money for two years of study.
At the age of 12, Benjamin began working as an apprentice in the printing house of his brother James, and printing became his main specialty for many years.
In 1727, he founded his own printing house in Philadelphia.
Published (1729-1748)
"The Pennsylvania Gazette", in 1732-1758 the yearbook "Poor Richard's Almanac".
In 1728, Benjamin Franklin founded the Philadelphia discussion circle of artisans and merchants "The Leather Apron Club" ("Junto"), which turned into the American Philosophical Society in 1743, whose members from the 1770s to the 1860s were elected 24 Russian scientists, including T. I. von Klingsteth (1773), E. R. Dashkova (1789), P. S. Pallas (1791), F. P. Adelung (1818), I. F. Krusenstern (1824), V. J. Struve (1853).
He founded the first public library in America in 1731, the American Philosophical Society in 1743, and the Philadelphia Academy in 1751, which became the basis of the University of Pennsylvania.
From 1737 to 1753, he served as postmaster of Pennsylvania, from 1753 to 1774 — the same position on the scale of all North American colonies.
In 1776, he was sent as an ambassador to France in order to achieve an alliance with her against England, as well as a loan.
He was elected a member of the academies of many countries, including the Russian Academy of Sciences (1789, the first American member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences).
He was a Freemason, and was a member of the greatest Masonic lodge "Nine Sisters".
He was an adherent of natural nutrition (specific nutrition, raw food).
One of the authors of the American Constitution (1787).
Benjamin Franklin's political views were based on the concept of natural and inalienable human rights, to which he referred life, freedom, and property.
Franklin's views on the political structure of the North American colonies, however, changed over time.
Until 1765, he considered the colonies as part of the British Empire.
Then he came to the idea of a federal system, based on the complete equality of all the colonies and the metropolis under the rule of the king.
Finally, when the contradictions between England and the colonies became insoluble, Franklin, who was convinced after the failure of his appeal in the British Parliament that there was no way to influence London's policy with the help of petitions, advocated the complete separation of the colonies from the mother country and the proclamation of political independence.
Later, he opposed the strengthening of the role of the executive branch, in particular, against the granting of extraordinary powers to George Washington, for the establishment of universal suffrage, not limited by property qualifications, was a strong opponent of slavery.
According to his philosophical views, Benjamin Franklin was adjacent to deism.
He opposed the idea of "natural religion" to Orthodox church dogma, in which the role of God was reduced to the act of creation of the world.
He formulated his own version of the theory of labor value.
In accordance with what was stated in his "Autobiography", Franklin developed and tried to implement a plan for achieving moral perfection and eliminating bad habits, which was based on developing a skill in the 13 virtues listed by him.
The author of the aphorism " Time is money "(from "Advice to a young merchant", 1748).
Franklin was the de facto spiritual leader of the new American nation in the second half of the XVIII century and the first half of the XIX century.
Franklin died on April 17, 1790.
About 20 thousand people gathered for his funeral in Philadelphia , despite the fact that the entire population of the city that year was 33,000 people, including infants.
The inventions of Benjamin Franklin:
He introduced the now generally accepted designation of electrically charged states " + "and"−";
he established the identity of atmospheric and friction generated electricity and gave proof of the electrical nature of lightning;
he established that metal points connected to the ground remove electric charges from charged bodies even without contact with them and proposed a lightning rod project in 1752;
invented bifocal glasses (1784);
he received a patent for the design of a rocking chair;
he invented an economical small sized stove for the house (1742 and 1770) (names: Franklin stove Franklin stove, or Pennsylvania fireplace Pennsylvania fireplace); This oven was and remains one of the most popular inventions of Franklin and is still used in many countries of the world.
It gives twice as much heat at a quarter of the consumption of wood from an ordinary fireplace.
Despite the great success of this design, Franklin did not patent his invention in principle, explaining this in his "Autobiography": "If we willingly enjoy great benefits from other people's inventions, then we should be glad to have the opportunity to serve others with our invention, and we should do it selflessly and generously";
he put forward the idea of an electric motor and demonstrated an "electric wheel" that rotates under the action of electrostatic forces;
for the first time, he used an electric spark to explode gunpowder;
he explained the principle of operation of the Leyden jar, having established that the main role in it is played by the dielectric separating the conductive plates;
he fundamentally improved the glass harmonica for which Mozart, Beethoven, Donizetti, R. Strauss, Glinka and Tchaikovsky began to compose;
developed his own time management system;
he collected extensive data on storm winds (nord ost) and proposed a theory explaining their origin;
with his participation, measurements of the speed, width and depth of the Gulf Stream were carried out, and this current, which was named by Benjamin Franklin, was mapped (1770).
Benjamin Franklin Aphorisms, quotes, sayings >>>
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