Interesting Facts about Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America, was also an author, printer, satirist apart from being a leading politician and diplomat. He was a scientist and inventor known for his discoveries in electricity. Take a look at some of the interesting facts of his life.

Facts about Benjamin Franklin

• He was born on January 17, 1706 to Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger. Benjamin was Josiah’s fifteenth child. The place of his birth was Milk Street, Boston.
• His mother wanted him to attend school with the clergy. Due to financial problems, Benjamin could continue schooling only for two years. He was a student of the Boston Latin School. He did not graduate.
• Benjamin courted Deborah Read in 1724 and wanted to marry her. Her mother declined the offer. Six years later, Benjamin acknowledged William as his son. Who was William’s mother, is still a mystery. Later, Benjamin wedded Deborah. They brought up William and had two children of their own.
• In 1726, Benjamin returned to Philadelphia and in 1927, established the Junto, a group of like-minded people who would strive towards improving themselves and their society. They started a subscription library, following Benjamin’s idea. This idea led to the establishment of the charter of the Library Company of Philadelphia in 1731. The Library Company is one of the greatest research libraries of present times.
• Benjamin Franklin founded the Union Fire Company, a fire-fighting company of America. He presided The Academy and College of Philadelphia. He served as the Justice of Peace for Philadelphia. He was appointed as the deputy postmaster-general of North America, where he was instrumental in bringing reforms to the postal system. He was the head of the Pennsylvania delegation to the Albany Congress in 1754. Benjamin Franklin was active in the Pontiac’ s rebellion and in the opposition of the 1765 Stamp Act in London. He was one of the authors of the ‘Declaration of Independence’. Franklin was a key player in the American Enlightenment, which was a part of the great intellectual movement called the ‘Age of Enlightenment’.
• Benjamin Franklin passed away on 17th April, 1790. His autobiography that was published after his death is one of the classics of all times.

Interesting Facts about Benjamin Franklin

• When he was 15 years of age, his brother James started an independent newspaper that was called ‘New England Courant’. Benjamin wanted to write for this paper, but he was not given the opportunity. He wrote by the anonym, Mrs. Silence Dogood. His writings earned popularity. No one knew that the real writer was Benjamin himself! Later in life, in the year 1733, Benjamin wrote with the anonym, Richard Saunders. His writings became popular this time as well. His other literary works included satirical essays and the development of an innovative phonetic alphabet that excluded the letters c, j, q, w, x and y. However, the new alphabet did not gain fame.
• The musical aspect of his personality is revealed in his skills of playing guitar, harp and violin. He invented the glass harmonica.
• The Harvard and the Yale Universities awarded him the honorary degrees. In 1762, the Oxford University honored him with a doctorate.
• According to a story, Benjamin Franklin was once unable to witness a lunar eclipse due to a storm moving from the southwest. He had observed that the prevailing winds were from the northeast. This led him to infer that storms do not necessarily move in the direction of the prevailing wind.
• Once, Franklin observed that he remained cooler wearing a wet shirt on a hot sunny day. This made him propose one of the very important principles of refrigeration, ‘Cooling by Evaporation’.
• The famous story of Franklin flying a kite during a storm led to some important theories related to electricity. He gathered electric charge on his kite from the lightening thus demonstrating the electrical nature of lightening.
• Some of his other inventions include, lightning rod, Franklin’s stove, bifocal glasses and the urinary catheter. He did not like patenting inventions. He thought that his inventions gave him an opportunity to serve the society.

His life and work put forth another important fact about Benjamin Franklin, that he was a man of virtue, a man of great potential and a humble person.