Fifteen Fabulous Facts about Benjamin Franklin

This 2024/2025 season marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the EST/Sloan Project, the joint initiative between the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Ensemble Studio Theatre “designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling work exploring the worlds of science and technology and to challenge the existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in the popular imagination.” In that spirit, we offer this second essay on the historical and scientific context of FRANKLINLAND, the Fall 2024 Mainstage Production of the EST/Sloan Project. FRANKLINLAND, written by Lloyd Suh and directed by Chika Ike, began previews at EST on October 9 and runs through November 3. You can purchase tickets here.

“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead, either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing.”

By Rich Kelley

Over the 84 years of his life (1706–1790), Benjamin Franklin achieved renown in many diverse fields: diplomacy, engineering, journalism, politics, public works, science. Collected here are fifteen facts about some of his lesser-known achievements.

Swim fins (1717). Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania

Invented Swim Fins: Franklin was an avid swimmer in his youth. Swim fins, or paddles, were his first invention at age 11.  He wore them on his hands to help him move faster in water, earning him a place in the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

"Nature-printed" paper money produced by Franklin, incorporating leaf images. From Hesburgh Libraries of Notre Dame and doi:10.1073/pnas.230185612

Printed Beautiful and Hard to Counterfeit Money: In 1731, Franklin won a contract to print £40,000 for the Pennsylvania colony. To foil counterfeiters, Franklin experimented with various papers and inks and even created a cast of a sage leaf to print on his money. The leaf’s complex veins could not be easily imitated. Learn more from “What Benjamin Franklin Learned from Fighting Counnterfeiters.”

Compiled a “Drinker’s Dictionary”: In 1737, Franklin compiled a dictionary of over 200 terms for drunkenness, showcasing his linguistic creativity and providing a satirical look at the drinking habits of colonial America. Here are the entries under “D”:

He’s Disguis’d
He’s got a Dish
He’s kill’d his Dog
He’s took his Drops
It’s a Dark Day with him
He’s a Dead man
He’s Dipped his bill
He’s Dagged
He’s seen the Devil

For the complete list, see “The Drinker’s Dictionary”

Hoffman, Bernard - Artist. Ben Franklin, Citizen. 1952. Watercolors (Paintings). Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/55467.

Founded the First Volunteer Fire Department: Franklin started the Union Fire Company in Philadelphia in 1736, the first volunteer fire department in America. He served as the first volunteer fire chief of what was sometimes called “Franklin’s Bucket Brigade.”

Wrote a Popular Pamphlet on Choosing a Mistress: Franklin authored a satirical (and often censored) pamphlet in 1745 titled “Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress,” which included the provocative advice “in all your Amours you should prefer old Women to young ones.”.

D'Aulaire, Edgar Parin, 1898-1986, and D'Aulaire, Ingri, 1904-1980 - Artist. D'Aulaire - Final Art for "Benjamin Franklin". ca. 1949. Illustrations. Free Library of Philadelphia: Philadelphia, PA. https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/51969.

Invented “Electric Party Games”: After his famous work with electricity, Franklin entertained guests with electric parlor tricks. One such game was to pass an electric shock through a line of people holding hands, providing a thrill and a laugh—an unusual precursor to today’s party games.

Tenderized Turkey by Electrocution and Electrocuted Himself: In several experiments Franklin electrocuted turkeys usind two Leyden jars and found that made the meat “uncommonly tender.” But these experiments had their hazards. In one, Franklin electrocuted himself. His friend Peter Collinson recounted Franklin’s experience. “It was some minutes before he could recollect his thoughts so as to know what was the matter . . .  His arms and the back of the neck felt somewhat numbed the remainder of the evening, and his breast was sore for a week after, as if it has been bruised.”

Hosted an Electrical Picnic on the Schuylkill: In one letter to the Royal Academy in 1749 Franklin described a picnic on the banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia: “a turkey is to be killed for our dinners by the electrical shock, and roasted by the electrical jack, before a fire kindled by the electrified bottle, when the healths of all the famous electricians in England, France and Germany, are to be drank in electrified bumpers, under the discharge of guns from the electrical battery.”

A fanciful recreation of Franklin’s electrical picnic courtesy of Dall-e with prompts from Rich Kelley

Invented a Flexible Urinary Catheter: In 1752, Franklin invented a flexible urinary catheter for his brother John, who suffered from bladder stones. His catheter was more comfortable than the rigid devices used at the time.

Flexible catheter (1752) Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania

Organized a Militia and Built Stockades: In 1756, Colonel Franklin organized a militia and built a line of stockades to defend Pennsylvania’s western frontier. To get the 500 men under his command to attend worship services, he had the military chaplain dole out the daily allotment of rum right after services. “Never were prayers more generally and punctually attended.”

Franklin with son William directing the building of the stockade at Fort Allen (1911) by Charles Mills Library of Congress / Public Domain

Whale oil street lamp (American), Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia, Historical Society of Pennsylvania Collection, Photo Credit: Peter Harholdt

Improved Street Lighting Designs: Colonists first used the glass globes common in London for streetlights. They tended to darken with soot as the oil inside burned and required near daily cleaning. Franklin’s improved design, introduced around 1757, used a four-sided glass globe to prevent the wind from blowing out the flame, and included a long funnel above to draw up the smoke, and crevices admitting air below, to facilitate the ascent of smoke. His design also gave off more light.

Took Daily Air Baths: Franklin had a unique health regimen that included “air baths,” which involved sitting naked in front of an open window for 30 minutes to an hour. Franklin believed in “dry bathing,” which involved rubbing himself down with a dry towel to exfoliate and invigorate his skin. He claimed it kept him in good health.

Invented the Glass Armonica: In 1761, Franklin invented a musical instrument called the glass armonica, which used spinning glass bowls to produce sounds. Mozart, Beethoven, Donizetti, and Saint-Saens wrote music for it. In the video excerpt from the Ken Burns documentary about Franklin, historian Ellen Conn explains what inspired Franklin’s invention.

Promoted Farting: In a jocular letter to the Royal Academy in 1781, Franklin proposed that it engage in a study of farts “To discover some Drug wholesome & not disagreable, to be mix’d with our common Food, or Sauces, that shall render the natural Discharges of Wind from our Bodies, not only inoffensive, but agreable as Perfumes.”

Used the Scientific Method to Prove Anton Mesmer a Fraud: In 1784 while Franklin was ambassador to France, King Louis XVI charged him to lead a commission to investigate the claims of Franz Friedrich Anton Mesmer that he was able to cure innumerable ailments by rearranging a person’s “animal magnetism.” Franklin’s commission, including the chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, the astronomer Jean-Sylvain Bally, and doctor Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, the inventor of the guillotine, invented science’s first blind test to prove Mesmer’s techniques a fraud. (For more details, see “Mesmerising Science: The Franklin Commission and the Modern Clinical Trial.”)

Magnetism Unveiled, anonymous engraving showing Benjamin Franklin brandishing his commission’s exposé of animal magnetism, while a half-animal Mesmer flees on a witch’s broom, in his hand a bag of money From Bibliotheque nationale de France

FRANKLINLAND: The History and Science Behind the Play

This 2024/2025 season marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the EST/Sloan Project, the joint initiative between the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Ensemble Studio Theatre “designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling work exploring the worlds of science and technology and to challenge the existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in the popular imagination.” In that spirit, we offer this essay on the historical and scientific context of  FRANKLINLAND the Fall 2024 Mainstage Production of the EST/Sloan Project. FRANKLINLAND, written by Lloyd Suh and directed by Chika Ike, begins previews at EST on October 9 and runs through November 3. You can purchase tickets here.

“He Snatched Lightning from the Sky, and the Scepter from Tyrants”

Benjamin Franklin’s Embrace of Science and the Rights of Humankind

By Philip Dray, author of Stealing God’s Thunder: Benjamin Franklin’s Lightning Rod and the Invention of America

On one of his journeys to England, the ship on which Benjamin Franklin was sailing became lost in the fog for several hours before managing to land safely.  His relieved fellow passengers sought to take up a collection to build a shrine of thanksgiving but Franklin objected, insisting a lighthouse would be far more appropriate.

Throughout his life (1706-1790), Franklin’s pragmatism was brought to bear in many such situations.  Born in Boston, where he apprenticed for his older brother James’s newspaper, he moved to Philadelphia as a young man and made a name for himself as a printer, publisher and community steward.  He organized a young men’s civic leadership group, and lent his support to libraries, fire departments, philosophical societies, as well as the need for unity among the American colonies. Known for his wise and witty almanacs, he also pursued horticultural and scientific experiments.       

Franklin stove (c.1795)  Courtesy of Metropolitan Museum of Art  Rogers Fund / Creative Commons CC0 1.0

His curiosity was most piqued by natural systems – wind, magnetism, heat, electricity – forces that contained energy but no mass.  When he noticed that the warmth generated by an open fireplace tended to “scorch” those individuals seated close by but left others in the drafty cold, his answer, one of his first inventions, was a stove that stood away from the wall and with its multiple surface areas warmed an entire room, while its closeable doors meant its fire required less fuel. 

Franklin did not invent electricity – its mysteries had been noted since Antiquity -- however his tabletop inquiries enabled him to describe how it worked.  His letters on the subject were published by the Royal Society in London and led to his initial worldwide renown.  Most notable was his 1752 outdoor experiment with kite and key, in which he proved that the atmosphere becomes electrified at the approach of a thunderstorm.  Having established that thunder and lightning are natural phenomena, he proceeded to invent a means of protection, the lightning rod, a metal contraption that, affixed to the roof of a dwelling and grounded in the earth, conducts lightning’s powerful electrical charge away from inhabitants and property. 

The lightning rod which still tops the dome of the Maryland State House in Annapolis was the largest Franklin lightning rod (28 feet) ever built for a public building during Franklin’s lifetime. Photo courtesy of Acroterion / Creative Commons 4.0

Franklin’s simple rooftop device was a cultural turning point, toppling the long-held superstition that thunderbolts were weapons of divine anger and retribution to which humans could only cower in fear.  The image of Franklin, the humble American printer and publisher who “stole God’s thunder” and thus called into question the heavenly powers of earthly kings, would make him a much-admired scientific and political figure of the dawning revolutionary age.  “He Snatched Lightning from the Sky, and the Scepter from Tyrants,” it was said of Franklin’s twin fields of endeavor.                     

Any full account of Franklin’s science must cite the invention of which he was most proud: bifocals.  When on diplomatic assignment in France he often attended dinner parties where he needed to see clearly the lips and faces, and even the hand gestures, of those with whom he conversed, as his mastery of French was adequate at best.  At the same time, a lover of good food, he wanted to see what was on his plate.  Returning in frustration to his quarters after one such affair, where he’d had to continually shift between two different eyeglasses, he disassembled several pair and using adhesive brought the upper and lower lenses together to form a dual lens.  Now, by merely raising and lowering his gaze, he could keep an eye on his meal and at the same time know what his dinner companions, or adversaries, were saying.

Franklin characteristically never sought to patent any of his creations, considering the practical solutions he devised so inevitable they could not possibly “belong” to him or to any person.  Such generosity of spirit reflected his allegiance to what would become known as the Scientific Method, an idea that had emerged from the Newtonian 17th century, that the search for scientific knowledge is open-ended, and functions best as a process in which hypotheses give way to experimentation, leading to better hypotheses, improved theories and conclusions, in an ongoing quest for truth.       

Benjamin Franklin (1785) by Charles Willson Peale.  The only known portrait of Franklin wearing bifocals. In the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts / Public Domain.

His interest in bettering human affairs was thus inspired by his and the late 18th century’s belief in the powers of experimentation and reason.  The Declaration of Independence of 1776, the founding document of arguably the Enlightenment’s most ambitious invention, the United States of America, underscored that “the laws of nature, and of nature’s God” (an echo of Isaac Newton’s “laws of gravity”) provided a moral basis for the safeguarding of humanity’s right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” and held that such rights are inherent to humankind, and not endowed by any monarch or divinity.  Where Thomas Jefferson, the document’s youthful author, referred to the principles of human equality as “sacred and undeniable,” Franklin suggested the words be changed to say that such truths are “self-evident,” the latter a phrase derived from Newtonian science. 

A nation governed by its people, however, was an exceedingly novel concept, and it was far from certain what form it would take or how long it could survive.  When the Constitutional Convention completed its work in September 1787 after four months of arduous deliberation, a Philadelphia acquaintance named Elizabeth Powell accosted Franklin as the delegates departed Independence Hall.  “Doctor,” she demanded, “what do we have, a monarchy or a republic?” 

“A republic,” Franklin famously replied, “if you can keep it.”  For in approving the Constitution he had worried that even the best-intentioned experiment in self-rule might fall prey to corruption; and in the final years of his life, regretful that slavery persisted in North America, aligned himself with a group of Quaker abolitionists vehemently opposed to the institution. 

Franklin was fascinated by what later scholars would call “population studies,” and liked to prognosticate on the future growth of the United States, with, he’d be pleased to know, a surprising degree of accuracy.  Doubtless he’d be gratified to see that the nation he helped found also became and continues to be a place known for research, innovation and the openness to new ideas.

About the Author: Philip Dray is the author of several books about the cultural and political history of the United States, including Stealing God’s Thunder: Benjamin Franklin’s Lightning Rod and the Invention of America; Capitol Men: The Story of Reconstruction Through the Lives of the First Black Congressmen; and At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America. He teaches in the Journalism + Design Department at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School and will be joining a panel discussion about FRANKLINLAND after the October 26 matinee performance.