Benjamin Franklin was already a renowned scientist when he arrived in London on his first diplomatic mission, having coined such terms as ‘battery’, ‘positive/negative’ and ‘charge’ through his work on electricity. While lodging at 36 Craven Street, Franklin conducted many further important experiments and research projects such as:
* 'Smoothing' water with oil
* Investigating canal depths and their implication
* Recording the effects of the Gulf stream
* Developing an alternative alphabet
Franklin also invented the following in his Craven Street laboratory, a key room on the Historical Experience at Benjamin Franklin House:
* An "economical" clock with three wheels to ensure a perpetual 24-hour cycle
* A popular fireplace draught, the ‘Franklin stove’
* The glass armonica (or harmonica), for which Mozart and Bach composed
* Bifocal spectacles (read more here)
* A new, more effective lightning rod – installed on the dome of St Paul’s cathedral, London
However, until the Second World War, Franklin’s scientific work was eclipsed by his importance as a statesman and Founding Father. Today however, he is renowned for his innovative and experimental scientific research, which he still found time for in his busy London life. He worked on many different and ideas and designs. He designed a stove that was intended to produce less smoke than other fire places and heat the whole room. He also is the only American to be credited with inventing a musical instrument; his Glass Armonica, which was very popular in Europe and inspired both Mozart and Beethoven to compose music for it.
His most famous, and useful, research was his work on electricity, and his lightning experiment. In the early 18th Century, lightning was widely believed to be sent as a punishment from God. Suggestions however, were being made that lightning was an electrical phenomenon rather than a heavenly one. Franklin came up with a way to test this hypothesis; he proposed a long metal rod pointing into a storm could ‘draw off’ the electricity from the storm. However, Franklin was not the first to test his theory; he wisely stayed away from these dangerous experiments, which resulted in at least one casualty.
In 1752, in anticipation of a storm, two French researchers erected an insulated pole in the small village of Marly. They were able to draw sparks from the pole when they touched it with a brass wire. Franklin’s own, later experiment became the more famous. In Philadelphia, Franklin constructed kite with a metal string attached. He flew the kite into a thunder storm, and as the kite was soaked in rain, sparks began to fly from the key and charged a Leyden jar. For Franklin, this was proof of ‘the Sameness of the Electric Matter with that of Lightning’. This experiment has gained a great deal of symbolic significance, and makes up a large part of the traditional Franklin discourse, the great statesman who ‘snatched from heaven the lightning’.
Benjamin Franklin House is the only remaining residence of Franklin anywhere in the world and is open to the public six days per week on Monday, Wednesday – Sunday.