Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. He was also a great inventor. One of his many inventions is the lightning rod. The lightning rod is used by many people today and really helps decrease the chances of fire caused by lightning.

Benjamin Franklin was born on January 17, 1706 on Milk Street in Boston, Massachusetts. His father was Josiah Franklin. Josiah Franklin was a tallow chandler. Josiah's second wife was Benjamin Franklin's mother. Josiah had seventeen kids altogether; Ben Franklin was the fifteenth child and the tenth and last son.

Josiah Franklin could only afford to send Benjamin to school for two years. Benjamin attended Boston Latin School but didn't graduate. Though Benjamin had only attended school for a short time, he continued his education through avid reading.

At the age of twelve, Benjamin was apprenticed to his older brother James, a printer. Later, Benjamin escaped the apprenticeship without his brother's consent and became a fugitive.

When Benjamin was seventeen, he went to Philadelphia. He worked in several printer shops but still wasn't satisfied. Also at age seventeen, he proposed to Deborah Read. However, her mother declined his offer. Afterwards, Benjamin went to London. During his absence, Deborah married John Rodger, but Rodgers escaped to Barbados and took the dowry with him. After Benjamin came back, Deborah married Benjamin.

In 1733, Benjamin published Poor Richard's Almanac under the pseudonym Richard Saunders. Though everyone knew that it was actually Benjamin writing the almanac, he denied. He stopped writing it in 1758.

One of Benjamin's greatest inventions was the lightning rod. In 1752, Benjamin conducted the famous kite-flying experiment in which he was able to prove that lightning was electricity. During the 1700s, lightning was the main cause of many fires. Many of the houses were made of wood and once they were struck, they would completely burn down.

Benjamin wanted to fix that, so he invented the lightning rod. The lightning rod is a metal rod attached to the outside of a house or building. One end of the rod points toward the sky and the other end is connected to a cable which goes ten feet underground. The rod attracts lightning and once the rod is struck, it takes the charge underground and decreases the number of fires that are caused by lightning.

On April 17, 1790, Benjamin Franklin died at age 84. Approximately 20,000 people attended his funeral.