Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, North America on January 17th, 176. His father was an English painter, who made candles and soap at that time. He had ten children, and Franklin ranked eighth. Franklin entered school at the age of eight. Although his academic performance was excellent, his father's income could not afford his schooling because of too many children in his family. So he left school at the age of ten and went home to help his father make candles. Franklin only studied in school for two years in his life. At the age of twelve, he became an apprentice in a small printing house run by his brother James. Since then, he has been a printer for nearly ten years, but his study has never stopped. He saved money from his meals to buy books. At the same time, taking advantage of his work, he met apprentices from several bookstores, secretly borrowed books from bookstores at night, read them all night, and returned them the next morning. He read a wide range, from popular books on natural science and technology to papers by famous scientists and works by famous writers.
It was during this period when he was an apprentice that Franklin learned arithmetic that he had failed in the exam twice at school, and read books on navigation by Sailor and Scherme. From these books on navigation, he came into contact with geometry knowledge. He also read Locke's Human Understanding and The Art of Thinking written by the authors of Bohr Loyal School. Franklin's study is getting deeper and deeper.
Franklin left Boston in 1723 to work as a worker at the Kivel Printing House in Philadelphia and the Parvi and Watts Printing House in London, England. In the autumn of 1726, Franklin returned to Philadelphia. By this time, he had mastered the exquisite printing technology, started to run the printing house independently, printed and distributed the Pennsylvania Newspaper, and published Poor Richard's Almanac, which was then translated into twelve languages and sold in Europe and America. In the autumn of 1727, in Philadelphia, he and several young people founded the "Reading Club" and organized a small library to help workers, craftsmen and clerks learn by themselves. Every Friday night, we discuss questions about philosophy, politics and natural science. At this time, Franklin was less than thirty years old. Through hard self-study, he has become a knowledgeable scholar and an enlightenment thinker, and his reputation in North America is increasing day by day. Under Franklin's leadership, the "* * * Reading Society" existed for almost forty years, and later developed into the American Philosophical Society and became the center of American scientific thought.
in 1736, Franklin was elected secretary of the Pennsylvania state legislature. In 1737, he served as deputy postmaster of Philadelphia. Although the work is getting heavier and heavier, Franklin still insists on studying every day. In order to further open the door to the treasure house of knowledge, he studied foreign languages tirelessly and mastered French, Italian, Spanish and Latin successively. He has widely accepted the advanced achievements of world science and culture. He laid a solid foundation for his own scientific research.
Frank is not only an excellent scientist, but also an outstanding social activist. He spent a lot of time in social activities all his life. Franklin paid special attention to education. He set up libraries, organized and founded many associations to improve the cultural quality of people from all walks of life.
in July 1752, he made a kite experiment to attract lightning, which caused a sensation all over the world. In the past, people always thought that lightning and thunder appeared in the sky, which was nature's display of great power. Franklin's experimental results show that this is a discharge phenomenon in nature. Benjamin Franklin
Just as he was making new achievements in scientific research, the national liberation movement of the North American colonies was rising day by day because of the brutal rule of the British colonists. For the independence and liberation of the nation, he resolutely put down his experimental instruments and actively stood in the forefront of the struggle. From 1757 to 1775, he went to Britain several times as a representative of North American colonies to negotiate. After the outbreak of the War of Independence, he participated in the Second Continental Congress and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. In 1776, Franklin, who was 7 years old, went abroad to France and won the support of the French and European people for the North American War of Independence. In 1787, he took an active part in the formulation of the American Constitution and organized a movement against slavery of blacks.
Franklin spent his last winter surrounded by his relatives. On April 17, 179, at 11 o'clock at night, Franklin died suddenly. At that time, his grandchildren, Temple and Benjamin, were with him. On April 21st, the people of Philadelphia held a funeral for him, and 2, people attended the funeral procession, mourning for Franklin's death for one month to show their condolences. In this way, Benjamin Franklin walked through the 84th Spring and Autumn Period of his life, lying quietly in the grave in the church yard, and his tombstone was only engraved with the words "Franklin the Printer".
[ Edit this paragraph] Publishers who are enthusiastic about public welfare
Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17th, 176. He is the eighth child in the family. Twenty-three years ago, his father, josiah Franklin, moved from the Midlands of England to Massachusetts, where he became a printer and a soap and candle manufacturer. Young Franklin loved reading, and josiah always wanted his son to be a priest. However, the poor family made it impossible for Franklin to continue his education. At the age of 12, he began to learn to make candles with his father, and then he studied printing with his brother James. The printing industry exposed Franklin to many new books and writers.
Soon, James began to publish the New England Weekly, which aroused Franklin's keen interest in news. He often stuffs his short essays written under a pseudonym into the door of the printing house at night, and when he hears the appreciation of those articles from professionals, he always secretly laughs. He once wrote a Lord's Prayer, thinking that he surpassed the Lord's Prayer in the Bible in terms of style and theological theory. He rewrote the public prayer and published several volumes; He also compiled a fable about religious persecution and told his friends that it was a chapter in the Bible that they had never read. At the age of 16, Franklin formed his own prose style by imitating the essays in the English literary journal The Spectator, and published 14 articles under the ironic pen name "Lonely Gooddoer". Readers have always thought that the author is a widow with a sense of morality. Franklin first disclosed this writing experience in his autobiography 55 years later.
in October 1723, Franklin, an apprentice, fled Boston because he was dissatisfied with his brother's strict management. After a short stay in new york, 17-year-old Franklin came to Philadelphia. Soon, he became a printer's assistant, and then wrote a letter to his parents explaining his situation and the reasons for leaving home. As a result, this letter was unexpectedly read by Sir Keith, Governor of Pennsylvania. Keith appreciated the style of this letter very much, and personally called Franklin, who works in Samuel Kajml Printing House, and suggested that he start his own printing business. However, Sir Keith is a hard man to keep his word. When Franklin made a special trip to London to buy printing type and contact business, he found that the governor did not provide him with the promised letter of credit and letter of introduction. At this time, Franklin, who was in a dilemma, had to choose to stay in England. In the next two years, he kept a clear head, was extremely frugal in life, worked diligently and made progress in his work, and also worked as a part-time swimming coach to increase his income.
at the age of 2, Franklin returned to Philadelphia. On the boat, he wrote down his life plan and decided to take "frugality, honesty, diligence and propriety" as his creed. Two years later, Franklin and another apprentice started to set up their own printing house and published Philadelphia's first newspaper, Pennsylvania Newspaper, which was a great success. Then the business of the printing house continued. Their publications include the first medical monograph and the first novel in America. At the same time, they are also responsible for printing local banknotes. After overcoming many difficulties, Franklin finally became a real entrepreneur.
At this time, Franklin began to pursue Deborah Reed again. He pursued Deborah long before he went to England, but he was rejected. After he left, Deborah married someone else and was abandoned. Deborah accepted Franklin this time. On September 1, 173, they formally got married and lived above the printing house in Market Street. Living with them was Franklin's illegitimate son William. Franklin used to go to "dirty women" because of what he called "the kind of youthful lust that is hard to suppress", and William was such an achievement. Deborah gave birth to two children after marriage, among which Sarah, the daughter, became the joy of their lives, while Francis, who died at the age of 6, brought eternal pain to the couple.
Franklin and Philadelphia are developing simultaneously. When Philadelphia developed into the most important city in the United States, Franklin also achieved great success in literature and publishing. He published Poor Richard's Almanac, which, like other almanac in the 18th century, contains a calendar, lunar calendar, holidays, market days, as well as household cookbooks, weather forecasts, life proverbs and so on. What is different is Franklin's wonderful blank-filling part in the book. For many years, Franklin has been recording his own idioms, illustrations and fables in every blank page of the yearbook. These simple and simple life wisdom made him beat all his competitors, and Poor Richard's Yearbook became a best seller in 13 colonial areas. For many readers, apart from the Bible, they only read Franklin's yearbook, because "poor Richard" teaches people to work hard, be honest and trustworthy, and at the same time hold a healthy skepticism about things. At that time, Americans were getting rid of the rules and regulations of the past. "Poor Richard" represented their spiritual characteristics and declared the same values of Americans.
Franklin founded the Leather Apron Club. Young people often exchange their reading pleasure, ideals and personal development here. In addition, members of the club also make suggestions for urban development. Franklin called for the formation of a fire brigade and suggested the establishment of a paid city watchman, which later brought the first police in Philadelphia. Through hard work, he also built the first hospital for Philadelphia and later developed it into Philadelphia College of the University of Pennsylvania.
Franklin's popularity was recognized by the public together with his business, and soon he set up publishing branches in various cities in the eastern coastal areas, from which he made a lot of profits. He has a keen eye and is good at catching business opportunities, monopolizing the market of printed paper in Philadelphia, and then controlling the price. He also used the post of postmaster to increase the circulation of his publications and earn more profits. Franklin's main income of course comes from his publishing company. At the same time, he has established cooperative relations with many friends and provided funds to their publishing companies in various regions to share profits. In addition, he also increased his income by selling paper and ink.
[ Edit this paragraph] A charitable scientist
Franklin was a shrewd businessman and an extremely generous scientist. After he invented the efficient heating stove, he refused to apply for a patent and claimed that the invention should serve the public interest. Franklin's charity stems from his collective nature and religious belief, and being kind to mankind is what he thinks is the most sacred thing. He has many inventions, such as electrostatic generator, beautiful ancient glass piano and so on. The most important invention is lightning rod, which is the result of his extensive experiments. Franklin carefully designed the size of the lightning rod, the types of ground equipment and how to connect it with buildings. Until today, the lightning rod has basically maintained his original design.
in the 174s, Franklin made a breakthrough in electrical theory. At that time, people knew Leiden bottle, how to store electricity in it, and that electric shock would occur, but they didn't know what electricity was and how the electric shock happened. Franklin tried to establish the working principle of electricity through experiments and find ways to store and apply electricity. He first put forward the theory of current, which believed that electricity would flow from the positive electrode to the negative electrode along the conductor. Many professional words he created are still used today, such as positive electricity, negative electricity, battery and so on.
Franklin's greatest achievement is that he believes that lightning phenomenon is actually another kind of electric spark originated from Leiden bottle, but it is more violent in form. To prove this theory, he experimented with kites and keys. Franklin had a gift for turning basic principles into simple experiments. He first made two tables, listing the characteristics of electricity and lightning, and then compared them and found that they were very similar, so he began to experiment. Franklin thought that the only way to prove the lightning theory was to erect a conductor on the spire of the church, but the highest point of the church was still not high enough. In the summer of 1752, when the sky was overcast, Franklin and his son William made a kite and put it in the air. Franklin soon noticed that the string pulling the kite began to split, which indicated that there was charge. So he hung a key on the traction line, rubbed his knuckles and contacted the key. As a result, sparks appeared, which proved that lightning was actually a lot of static electricity. Franklin's theory was later confirmed by the French, which established his status as a scientist. From then on, a famous saying was born in human history, describing his achievement, "He caught lightning from the sky and regained power from the autocratic ruler".
Franklin's reputation as a politician and diplomat is very beneficial to his scientific achievements. However, many clergy in America, Britain and France also began to condemn Franklin. They insist that lightning is God's way of punishing sinners, and human beings cannot interfere at all. Rational Franklin scoffed at this. In fact, his electrical theory and the practical function of lightning rod have been more and more recognized. Franklin became the most famous American in Europe, and everyone knew that he was a man who conquered lightning.
Franklin supported deism in philosophy and acknowledged the existence and objectivity of nature. He was also the first person who consciously used labor time to determine the value of production. Franklin predicted that the population of the United States would increase geometrically, doubling every 25 years on average. This prophecy has become beautiful.