Benjamin Franklin

In an era when the fomenting and support of revolution are claimed by youth as their special attributes, it is significant to recall that two hundred years ago the person whose contribution greatly influenced Uncle Sam and feared by the crowned heads of England and many parts of Europe as the most dangerous man in America, was Benjamin Franklin (Bowen ix). Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He was the tenth son of son Josiah Franklin, who was a soap maker. Benjamin's mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah (Quick Bio of Ben). Although he was born in Boston, the city of Philadelphia is remembered as the home of Ben Franklin (The World of Benjamin Franklin). Benjamin Franklin was a very significant inventor in the late 18th century. His inventions reveal a man of many talents and interests and his natural curiosity about things and the way they work made him try to find ways to make them work better (Benjamin Franklin and His Inventions).

Franklin was visually impaired and needed glasses to read. Being weary of taking them off and putting them back on, he decided to figure out a way to make his glasses let him see both near and far. He took two pairs of spectacles that he owned, cut them in half, and put each halves of each lens in a single frame. Today, we call them bifocals (Benjamin Franklin and His Inventions). Benjamin Franklin is credited with the invention of bifocal glasses, which he designed here for his friend George Whatley, a London merchant, who was also a pamphleteer (Scientist and Inventor). Franklin wrote, in August 1784 to his friend George Whatley, that he was “content with the invention of double spectacles, which served for distant objects as well as near ones, making my eyes as ...

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...profiting from the things he made and discovered (Inventor of the Week). Franklin was a very significant inventor in the late 18th century. Today, Ben Franklin is honored as one of the Founding Fathers and as one of America's greatest citizens (The World of Benjamin Franklin). Ben Franklin's inventions are often still being used today. Other inventors have used his basic designs or ideas and have enhanced them with today's advancements (Ben Franklin’s Odometer). He was often ahead of this time with his inventions. His interests in books and sense of wonder helped him create new and useful tools. Considerably, he is one of the most important men in American history, both for his inventions and his political activism (Ben Franklin’s Odometer). Scientifically speaking, he may be the best role model that 21st-century American inventors could find (Inventor of the Week).