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1 Franklin Used Humor to Engage the Public
I caught myself smiling as Franklin revealed his wry humor, which he used to make his points more engaging. Even as a teenager, when he was secretly writing newspaper columns as Silence Dogood, a middle-aged and opinionated widow, he crafted lines verging on the ribald. Later in life, as an accomplished scientist, he mocked his arrogant colleagues by preparing a proposal for the Royal Academy of Brussels to study the causes and cures of farts. He claimed that “immortal honor” would flow to the researcher who determined how different foods alter the odor and frequency of a person’s bodily emissions.
Such examples may sound silly, but Franklin deployed humor to capture public attention and explain natural phenomena. No doubt he conducted understandable experiments: Who could not comprehend flying a kite? Yet adding to his popular appeal, he hid his brilliance behind a trickster’s sense of fun. To engage the public, he rigged a statue of George III with a gilded crown that produced “high treason” shocks when touched, and, to the delight of visitors, he placed a slight electric charge along the metal fence surrounding his Philadelphia home. He even proposed a “party of pleasure” on the banks of the Schuylkill in which electrical charges cooked the meals and ran through the river to ignite alcoholic spirits on the opposite bank.
2 Franklin Was the Very Definition of a Polymath
Franklin’s science extended well beyond the much-hyped kite experiment to include leading-edge research on electricity, heat and refrigeration, weather patterns, ocean currents, and chemical bonds. He advanced fundamental laws about the conservation of charge and the nature of chemical bonds between oil and water. His studies even ran to demographics and politics. Moreover, although the term “scientific method” did not emerge until the 19th century, Franklin outlined a clear and straightforward process for careful observation, measurement-based testing, and fact-focused conclusions. This empirical approach democratized the obtaining of knowledge, making natural philosophy, as science was then called, available to more than a well-heeled elite.
In addition to basic research, Franklin gave us practical inventions. Although the kite experiment was originally planned to gain understanding of natural phenomena, it led to a remarkable invention—the lightning rod, which drew electrical charges from clouds, saving lives and structures. Before that device became available, the faithful rang church bells in towers during storms to invoke the almighty’s protection and ward off discharges, a practice that was not good for the long-term health of bellringers, hundreds of whom were electrocuted. More fundamentally, Franklin’s invention transformed in the popular mind a frightening force that represented divine anger into a natural phenomenon that humans could control. Other Franklin inventions included an efficient stove (which began with basic experiments about the movement of heat), a flexible catheter (a gift to a brother who had painful kidney stones), and bifocals (a gift to himself as his eyesight deteriorated).
He hid his brilliance behind a trickster’s sense of fun.
To get a sense of Franklin’s diverse interests, consider the letters this polymath wrote in a single month while in London supposedly busy negotiating with British ministers. In one lengthy note, he described the threat of lead poisoning among tradesman who handled the heavy metal. To other colleagues, he outlined the management of silkworms, and he forwarded several plants and seeds never seen before in America, including Scotch kale. Additional letters touched on sunspots, magnetism, new ways to produce carriage wheels, the purification of air by vegetation, and a census in China.
3 Science Advanced Franklin’s Patriotism
Franklin believed Americans would be recognized as capable by European elites only if they could demonstrate technological and scientific strength, so he created a scholarly association dubbed the American Philosophical Society in 1743, which still exists today. It was meant to promote the free exchange of ideas and is considered the oldest scholarly society in the United States. Significantly, it was one of the first efforts in which representatives from all of the then fiercely independent colonies worked together. This united association of scientists can be said to have served as a foundation for the United States: It paved the way for economic independence from the British by improving agriculture, manufacturing, and transportation.
Science, moreover, framed Franklin’s approach to the Declaration. With literary flair, Thomas Jefferson’s draft presented a list of grievances against King George III as well as principles for a new nation. Franklin’s key edit seems minor but is telling. Jefferson wrote, “We hold these truths”—including that all men are created equal—to be “sacred and undeniable.” Franklin tightened the wording and declared the truths to be “self-evident.” That small change reflected a shift from Jefferson’s faith to Franklin’s science. While “sacred” implied truths supplied by God, “self-evident” verities were observable by ordinary men and women. 
Lead image: RedlineVector / Shutterstock
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