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Birth
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. His parents were Josiah Franklin and Abiah Folger -
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Education
Attended George Brownell’s English School -
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Printer
Franklin published his first letter in the Courant under the pen name of “Silence Dogood”, a fictional widow of a country minister who has strong opinions.
He became a vegetarian. -
A man of science
Benjamin left an important legacy in electrical science and its useful application to mankind. The experiments published in “Experiments and Observations on Electricity Made at Philadelphia in America” proved the existence of positive and negative charges as well as the concepts of insulators and conductors. His work led to the invention of the lightning rod which saved buildings from being struck by lightning.