On this day in 1752, Benjamin Franklin conducts his famous experiment in which he flies a kite during a thunderstorm. The experiment demonstrated the electrical nature of lightning. From that, Franklin invented the lightning rod, and coined several terms we use today such as electrician, battery, and conductor.
Franklin was one of our preeminent founding fathers, having served as a legislator in Pennsylvania, as a diplomat in England and France, and he is the only politician to have signed the Declaration of Independence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), the Treaty of Paris (1783) and the U.S. Constitution (1787).
Convincing Proofs
Clearly, Benjamin Franklin was one of our most prolific American patriots, if not the most. Nearing the end of his full and storied life, he petitioned for prayer at Constitutional Convention of 1787 in Philadelphia:
“I have lived a long time, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?”
His quote, and his sketch of another of his inventions, the bifocals, inspired Our Benjamin Franklin shirt. Get yours HERE.
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