Benjamin Franklin was one of the preeminent scientists of his time. Driven by curiosity, he conducted cutting-edge research on electricity, heat, ocean currents, weather patterns, chemical bonds, and plants. But today, Franklin is remembered more for his political prowess and diplomatic achievements than his scientific creativity. Franklin was a shrewd experimenter, clever innovator, and visionary physicist whose fame opened doors to negotiate French...

Recounts the life and career of Benjamin Franklin.

Benjamin Franklin has as good a claim as anyone to be called the first real American. He was the nation's first tycoon and its first recognized spokesman abroad. When it came time to quit, however, he left the world stage to pursue his own interests without the least regret. What kind of man was this? This sharply insightful biography teaches us as much about Franklin as it does about our nation's history.

A brief biography of the eighteenth-century printer, inventor, and statesman who played an influential role in the early history of the United States.

"From his early career as a printer and journalist, to his scientific work and his role as a founder of a new republic, Benjamin Franklin has always seemed the inevitable embodiment of American ingenuity. But in his youth he had to make his way through a harsh colonial world where he fought many battles: with his rivals, but also with his wayward emotions. Taking Franklin to the age of forty-one, when he made his first electrical discoveries, Bunker...

"Benjamin Franklin was not a gambling man. But at the end of his illustrious life, the Founder allowed himself a final wager on the survival of the United States: a gift of two thousand pounds to Boston and Philadelphia, to be lent out to tradesmen over the next two centuries to jump-start their careers. Each loan would be repaid with interest over ten years. If all went according to Franklin's inventive scheme, the accrued final payout in 1991 would...

Surveys the life of Benjamin Franklin, highlighting his work as an inventor and statesman.

Introduces the life and accomplishments of the statesman, scientist, inventor, and Founding Father of the United States.

Benjamin Franklin is perhaps the most remarkable figure in American history: the greatest statesman of his age, he played a pivotal role in the formation of the American republic. He was also a pioneering scientist, a best selling author, the country's first postmaster general, a printer, a bon vivant, a diplomat, a ladies' man, and a moralist-and the most prominent celebrity of the eighteenth century. Franklin was, however, a man of vast contradictions,...

Benjamin Franklin was born the youngest of seventeen children. Born a native of Boston on January 6th 1706. Franklin grew up and found work as a printer in 1723 and eventually started his own printing house where he began printing "The Pennsylvania Gazette" among this he partially wrote and published "Poor Richard Almanac" and later founded the "American Philosophical Society". In 1777 in while living in Philadelphia Franklin was chosen as a member...