Benjamin Franklin (170665438+1October17-1790 April17) (also translated by Benjamin Franklin and Ben Ming Jie Franklin) [1

He is also a publisher, printer, journalist, writer and philanthropist. He is also an outstanding diplomat and inventor. He was one of the important leaders of the American War of Independence, participated in drafting many important documents, and served as the American ambassador to France, which successfully won France's support for American independence. Benjamin Franklin did many electrical experiments, invented the lightning rod, and was the first to put forward the law of conservation of charge. He also invented bifocal glasses, frog shoes and so on. Benjamin Franklin was elected a member of the Royal Society. He was the first postmaster in the United States. French economist Turgut said of Franklin: "He got thunder and lightning from heaven and civil rights from tyrants."

Benjamin Franklin, one of the three founding fathers of the United States, was named the sixth among the 65,438,000 people who influenced the United States by the authoritative American periodical Atlantic Monthly. [2]

Chinese name

Benjamin Franklin

Foreign name

Benjamin Franklin

Another name

Benjamin Franklin

nationality

United States of America

birthplace

Boston, Massachusetts

The life of the character

Josiah Franklin, the father of Benjamin Franklin, was born in 1657, the son of a blacksmith family in Northamptonshire, England. Mother Abia folger was born in a teacher's family in Boston, Massachusetts on 1667. Josiah Franklin got married for the first time in England on 1677. After giving birth to several children, she and her family left England and 1683 moved to Boston to make a living in selling groceries. Later, his first wife died, and his second wife Abby gave birth to Benjamin Franklin in Boston.

170665438+1October17 Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, North America. His father is an English painter. At that time, he made candles and soap. He had seventeen children. Franklin is the youngest. Franklin entered school at the age of eight. Although his academic performance is excellent, his father's income can't afford him to go to school because there are too many children at home. So he left school at the age of ten and went home to help his father make candles. Franklin only studied at school for two years in his life. At the age of twelve, he was an apprentice in a small printing factory run by his brother James. Since then, he has worked as a printer for nearly ten years, but his study has never stopped. He saved money for meals to buy books. At the same time, taking advantage of my work, I met apprentices from several bookstores, secretly borrowed books from bookstores at night, looked at 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. [3]

1736, Franklin was elected secretary of the Pennsylvania legislature.

Benjamin Franklin

1737, former deputy director of Philadelphia Post. Franklin insisted on studying every day, even though his work was getting heavier and heavier. 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 scientific research.

Benjamin Franklin began to build the college in 1743, and the college was established eight years later, which was the predecessor of the University of Pennsylvania. At the same time, he began to study electricity and other scientific problems.

1748, Benjamin Franklin quit his printing business, but he still made considerable profits from his partners, so he had time for his inventions and research, including his research on electricity. He found that the charge is divided into "positive" and "negative", and the quantities of the two are conserved.

It is said that in 1752, Franklin conducted a famous experiment: flying kites in thunderstorm weather, which proved that "lightning" was caused by electricity. This is a very dangerous experiment. In fact, other scientists were electrocuted while conducting similar experiments (see George william ritchie Mann). Until now, many people still have doubts about whether Benjamin Franklin really carried out such an experiment and how it was carried out. In fact, in the fifth episode of the fourth season, the mythbusters program of the American Discovery Channel proved that Benjamin Franklin would be killed directly if he really put his hand near the lightning button. But there is no doubt that Benjamin Franklin invented the lightning rod; The Royal Society of London (UK) also elected Franklin as an academician in 1753, praising his research on electricity.

Besides studying electricity, Benjamin Franklin also contributed to meteorology. In order to find news for his newspaper, he often goes to the farmer's market to collect news. He found that storms often appear in one place, and then there are storms in other places. He thought that the two might actually be the same storm, so he suggested that the storm would move and eventually derive the weather analysis and weather map in the future, which changed the method of relying solely on visual prediction.

Benjamin Franklin was also an outstanding government official. But he also used his power to seek promotion for his relatives and defiled his official career. His most important achievements include reforming the postal system in North America, taking up diplomatic posts, dealing with the suzerain Britain on behalf of the North American colonies, and then going to France.

1754, he led the representatives of Pennsylvania to attend the colonial congress held in Albany, new york, and put forward the plan of colonial union. Although the plan was not accepted at that time, many of its contents were later written into the US Constitution.

1757, he made a statement to the king of England on behalf of the Pennsylvania people in England, and lived for five years, during which he expounded the colonial situation and opinions to the British people and government officials. Because of his achievements in science, Oxford University awarded him an honorary doctorate during this period. It was also during this period that he participated in the election of William Franklin and appointed him as the governor of New Jersey.

Just as he made new achievements in scientific research, the momentum of the American War of Independence became stronger and stronger. 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 as a representative of North American colonies for many times to negotiate. After the outbreak of the War of Independence, he also participated in the Second Continental Congress and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence.

Franklin was going to retire from politics at the age of 55 and study science seriously, but the Pennsylvania legislature sent him to London to settle a dispute over land tax. At that time, the Payne family refused to pay taxes on the vast land they occupied. Franklin originally estimated that it was only a short trip, but he didn't expect it to be seven years. When he returned to the United States, it was the state legislature election in Philadelphia. Before that, he had been a member of the state legislature for 14 years in a row, but this time he lost the election because the Payne family tried their best to ruin his political future. Franklin and others decided to petition the king of England to turn Pennsylvania into a British colony, thus permanently depriving the Payne family of control. Although he was no longer a member of parliament, the state legislature entrusted Franklin to negotiate in Britain, and the journey was as long as 10 years. In the United States, Pennsylvania is caught in another dispute.

1765, the British parliament passed a bill to tax all kinds of printed matter in the colonies. Because the tax payment voucher is a stamp, this bill is called the stamp tax law. Similar taxes have been levied in Britain for a long time, and Franklin also put forward this proposal a few years ago. But the political atmosphere of 1765 has changed. The stamp duty bill caused riots in the streets of the United States, and people made fierce remarks against it and denounced this autocratic behavior. Because Franklin's son William was already the governor of New Jersey, many people thought Franklin was one of the chief culprits of the stamp duty bill. In Franklin's apartment in Philadelphia's Market Street, his wife Deborah even equipped herself with a pistol to avoid causing public outrage.

Franklin initially tried to reach some kind of compromise with the British government, but the ruler ignored it. When he understood that the stamp duty bill would affect the relationship between Britain and the United States, he insisted that it must be abolished.

On February 1766, Franklin came to the House of Representatives to discuss the reasons for abolishing the stamp duty bill. In four hours, I answered 174 questions in front of Representative Franklin. Later, the British philosopher Burke described this dramatic defense, saying that it was like a master answering a group of students' questions. Franklin reminded Parliament that Americans always thought they were British and would continue to support Britain as long as they were respected. A few weeks later, the stamp duty bill was abolished and Americans regarded Franklin as a hero.

But Britain did not give up the idea of taxing the colonies, and soon new taxes appeared again. In order to collect taxes, Britain even sent troops to the United States, and the expenses were naturally borne by colonial residents. The situation is tense again. Franklin predicted that the situation would deteriorate and that a war between the colonists and the British would soon break out. Soon, there was a quarrel between Bostonians and British soldiers. At first, the two sides threw snowballs at each other, and eventually the conflict developed and about five people died. Bostonians were outraged. They dumped 600 pounds of English tea into the port.

A few years ago, Americans hardly thought of the word "independence", but at this time, declaring independence seems to be the only feasible way. Franklin always hoped that this would not happen. Massachusetts hired Franklin, who was loyal to Britain, as its representative in London, but Governor Thomas Hutchinson vetoed the appointment. At that time, Franklin asserted that sending more troops to Boston could only prove Britain's hostility to the colonies. Later, he learned that these troops were deployed at the request of Governor Hutchinson. Hutchinson wrote to British officials many times, criticizing the situation in Massachusetts and suggesting depriving the colonies of so-called British freedom.

A few years later, at 1772, these letters arrived in Franklin. He showed these photos to his friends in Massachusetts and asked them to circulate them secretly among colonial officials, but not publicly. His request is obviously naive. As a result, these letters were made public, which naturally caused an uproar. Angry Bostonians wrote a petition demanding Hutchinson's dismissal, and Franklin petitioned the king on their behalf. Franklin accepted the task. On the other hand, Hutchinson demanded to defend his reputation. When this incident spread to London, it also caused confusion. The British want to find out which traitor gave these personal letters to the colonists. They expelled several suspects. Franklin naturally didn't want to expose himself. But when one of his friends was also listed as a suspect, Franklin felt it necessary to stand up and admit that he published these letters.

1774 65438+ 10/01Six days before Franklin's 68th birthday, he received an invitation from the Privy Council in London. The invitation was worded in a friendly way. Franklin thought that the Privy Council would consider accepting the people's petition and asked him to take over the post of Governor Hutchinson. But three weeks later, when Franklin entered the Privy Council, he found that he had to face an investigation into the leakage of Hutchinson's letters. The Privy Council was full of MPs and spectators, and Lord Goyle presided over the hearing. For an hour and a half, Franklin stood there and was reprimanded by Wedderburn, the Deputy Minister of Justice. Wedderburn, who is keen on abuse, is Scottish. He made a wanton and vicious personal attack on Franklin. After the hearing, Franklin came out quietly without saying a word. In the past, Franklin's colonial compatriots criticized him for being too inclined to Britain, while the British condemned him for being too Americanized. When Franklin was about to leave England, he received the news that his wife Deborah had died. This made him very painful. Although he once advised his wife to go to London to reunite with him, Deborah didn't want to cross the ocean. After years of separation, it was her persistent letter that kept their marriage together.

/kloc-0 returned to north America from London, England in March, 775. Later, in Philadelphia, he was elected as a member of the British North American Colonial Continental Congress to help draft the American Declaration of Independence.

From 1776, Franklin was sent to France as the Commissioner representing the United States until 1785. During this period, he was very popular with all walks of life in France, and some wealthy French families even decorated galleries with his portrait. Benjamin Franklin's trip to France was very successful. He won the French-American military alliance, which is very important to the new United States, and negotiated and signed the Paris Treaty of 1783.

1776, 70-year-old Franklin crossed the ocean to France and won the support of the European people for the North American War of Independence.

From 65438 to 0787, he actively participated in the formulation of the American Constitution and organized a movement against slavery.

When Benjamin Franklin returned to the United States in 1785, his contribution to American independence was second only to Washington.

Benjamin Franklin was also a pioneer in opposing slavery. Shortly after his return from France, he became the chairman of an organization that opposed slavery and sought to release blacks who were illegally imprisoned.

1787, retired Benjamin Franklin attended the meeting to amend the American Constitution, becoming the only founder who signed the three most important American bills at the same time. These three documents are: Declaration of Independence, Paris Treaty 1783, and American Constitution 1787. In this year, Franklin donated money to establish Franklin Marshall University named after him.

Franklin spent the last winter in the company of his relatives.

1April 7, 790, at night 1 1 point, Franklin died suddenly. At that time, his grandson Benjamin Temple was with him. On April 2 1, the people of Philadelphia held a funeral for him, and 20,000 people attended the funeral procession, mourning for Franklin's death for one month. Franklin was buried near the Constitution Center on Fifth Avenue in Philadelphia. The epitaph is a passage he wrote when he was young:

The body of this body

B. Franklin, printer, Ben Franklin, printer,

Like the cover of an old book, like the cover of an old book.

Its content has been torn off, and there is no content.

And striped lettering and gold plating, mottled handwriting and gold plating fall off.

Lying here, worm food. Lying here, eaten by insects.

But the job will not be lost forever, but his job will not disappear.

Because, as he believes, it will appear again, as he expected and believed, again.

In a new and more perfect version, there is a new and more perfect version.

Correction and amendment

It was written by the author. author

Major achievements

War leader

1On May 5, 775, Franklin returned to Philadelphia. Two and a half weeks ago, the city was ready to go to war because a British army led by General Gage clashed with armed militia in Lexington and Concord Street. At that time, London had ordered the arrest of Franklin, so he joined the ranks of the rebels without hesitation. In addition to becoming the representative of the second American colonial conference, Franklin also took charge of some important committees.

1In the summer of 776, he joined a five-member committee, which was responsible for drafting the document declaring the independence of the United States. Thomas Jefferson drafted the first draft of the declaration. Franklin felt that Jefferson's expression of "truth" with "sacred and undeniable" was not accurate enough, and he suggested that it should be changed to "we think this is a self-evident truth". Because of the urgent need for weapons, the United States decided to seek help from France, and Franklin was sent to France to complete this important mission. Despite his advanced age, he accepted this mission, which means that he will be separated from his daughter Sarah and grandchildren. Franklin's pursuit of American independence also influenced his personal life. His son William is a staunch follower of the British Empire and cannot reach an understanding with his father on the issue of American independence. Franklin also broke up with many English friends. [4]

At that time, 70-year-old Franklin was weak, suffering from gout and kidney calculi's disease. However, on the day when the American Congress passed the Declaration of Independence, he left for France with hope for a new country. France is full of spies and double agents. Franklin carefully raised funds, arranged for ships to load and unload weapons, and skillfully handled cargo ships detained by French armed civilian ships. On the one hand, he is a proud opponent of kingship and nobility, and at the same time, he does not exclude French nobles and members of the royal family who may help the United States become independent. As the day of meeting Louis XVI and Princess Marie Antoinette drew near, Franklin became more cautious. Every step he took was full of hardships, because at that time, he was just an officially appointed diplomatic envoy, representing an unrecognized country.

Publisher

Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in July. He is the fifteenth child in the family (his father married two wives, his ex-wife gave birth to seven, and his steproom gave birth to ten more. Franklin was born in the steproom, ranking fifteenth, with only two sisters). Twenty-three years ago, his father, josiah Franklin, moved to Massachusetts from the middle of England and became a printer, soap and candle maker. Young Franklin liked reading, and Josiah always wanted his son to be a priest. However, the embarrassed family prevented Franklin from continuing his education. /kloc-at the age of 0/2, he began to learn to make candles with his father, and then he learned to print 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 always laughs secretly when he hears the appreciation of those articles by professionals. He once wrote a Lord's prayer, thinking that he surpassed the Lord's prayer in the Bible in style and theological theory. He rewrote the public prayer and published several volumes; He also made up 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 0/6, Franklin 14 articles were published under the satirical pen name "Lonely Gooddoer" by imitating the essays in the English literary magazine The Spectator. Readers have always thought that the author is a loner with a sense of morality. Franklin first revealed this writing experience in his autobiography 55 years later.

1723 10 As an apprentice, Franklin 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 an assistant to a printer, and then wrote a letter to his parents explaining his situation and the reason for leaving home. As a result, this letter was accidentally read by Sir Keith, the governor of Pennsylvania. Keith appreciated the style of this letter very much, and personally wrote to Franklin, who works in Samuel Carmel Printing Factory, and suggested that he start his own printing company. However, Sir Keith is a hard man to keep his promise. 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, in a dilemma, had to choose to stay in Britain. In the next two years, he kept a clear head, lived extremely frugally, worked diligently, and worked as a part-time swimming coach to increase his income.

autobiography

Franklin returned to Philadelphia at the age of 20. On the boat, he wrote down his life plan and decided to take "frugality, honesty, diligence and courtesy" as his creed.

1730, Franklin and another apprentice started to set up their own printing factory, and published the Pennsylvania newspaper, the first newspaper in Philadelphia, which was a great success. Then the printing business 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.

family life

At this time, Franklin began to pursue Deborah Reed again. He pursued Deborah long before he went to England, but he was turned down. After he left, Deborah married someone else and was abandoned. Deborah accepted Franklin this time.

1730, 1 In September, they formally got married and lived above the printing house in Market Street. Living with them is Franklin's illegitimate son William. Franklin used to look for a "dirty woman" because of what he called "the irresistible youthful lust", 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. [5]

Benjamin Franklin and Deborah Reed were married according to the common law. Franklin and Deborah Reid were engaged at 1724, but they failed to achieve it because of the opposition of the woman's parents. Reed married someone else. Later, Deborah Reed was abandoned by her husband, whose whereabouts were unknown. According to the law at that time, Reid could not remarry freely for life. Therefore, Benjamin Franklin and Deborah Reed cannot legally marry for life.

But Benjamin Franklin also had an illegitimate child, William Franklin, who was born before he married Reed. His birth mother is unknown. Later, Deborah Reed and Benjamin Franklin raised him. [6]

Character contribution

Electrical contribution

Franklin's contribution to physics is mainly in electricity, and he is one of the pioneers in exploring electricity.

In order to explore electricity, he once made a famous "kite experiment" and made remarkable achievements in electricity. In order to deeply explore the law of electricity movement, many special terms such as positive polarity electricity, negative polarity electricity, conductor, battery, charge and discharge have become world-wide vocabulary. He borrowed the positive and negative concepts in mathematics, and expressed the nature of charge scientifically with the concept of positive and negative electricity for the first time. And put forward the view that charge can neither be created nor destroyed, and later generations discovered the law of charge conservation on this basis. The specific performance is as follows:

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Franklin and other works

1. The theory of explaining various electrical phenomena first proposed the law of charge conservation.

Franklin made his first important discovery in a simple discharge experiment. He asked A and B to stand on the wooden box respectively, let them get glass electricity and rosin electricity from Leiden bottles respectively, and then let A and B discharge to the third person C standing on the ground. As a result, sparks flew. But if A and B shake hands after charging and then discharge to C, there will be no sparks. Franklin found that glass electricity and rosin electricity can cancel each other out, so he concluded that there are two kinds of charges. He called glass electricity positive and rosin electricity negative, which were represented by "+"and "-"symbols respectively. And put forward the single fluid theory of electricity. He thinks that every object has a certain amount of electricity, and there is only one kind of electricity. Friction can't produce electricity, but only makes electricity transfer from one object to another, and their total electricity remains unchanged. An object with too much electricity is called positive charge, and an object with insufficient electricity is called negative charge. Due to the introduction of these concepts, electricity has become a quantifiable physical quantity.

2. Uncover the secret of lightning phenomenon and be a lightning rod.

During the period from 1749 to 175 1, Franklin carefully observed and studied the formation of lightning and clouds, and put forward the conjecture that lightning and friction in clouds have the same electrical properties.

1752, he conducted an electric kite experiment in Philadelphia that shocked the world: under the condition of lightning, he used a kite to collect the electricity in the atmosphere into a Leiden bottle and charge it, thus proving his idea of "the identity of lightning and static electricity".

According to this theory and his discovery of the discharge phenomenon of tip grounding conductor, some suggestions for lightning rod are put forward in 1750. This suggestion was first applied in 1852 University of Mali, France. The invention of lightning rod can not only prevent the serious harm caused by lightning, but also break superstition and reveal the true colors of natural forces.

Mathematical contribution

His contribution to science lies not only in electrostatics, but also in a wide range of research fields. In mathematics, he created eight magic squares and 16 magic squares. These two Rubik's Rubik's Cube have special properties and complicated changes, and they are still praised by scholars.

Thermal contribution

In terms of heat, he improved the heating stove, which can save three quarters of the fuel.

Optical contribution

In optics, he invented bifocal glasses for the elderly, which can see things clearly no matter how far or near.

Other scientific contributions

He invented the rocking chair, lightning rod and improved street lamp. An ocean current was discovered in the Gulf of Mexico. Promulgated the news dissemination law. The first person to draw a storm map. Discover the harmfulness of human exhaled gas. Explain the northern lights first. Known as the father of modern dentistry. First, the fire brigade was organized. Established a modern postal system. Modern parliamentary election law was founded. Found the cause of the cold. Invented granular fertilizer. Designed white linen clothes for summer wear, and designed the earliest swimming glasses and flippers. In addition, he also studied meteorology, geology, acoustics and ocean navigation, and made many achievements. The invention of the glass harmonica was invented by 1763. It is a set of glassware placed on a horizontal spindle. The spindle is filled with water through the player's pedal, and then sounds through the delicate friction of fingers.

Personality assessment

Franklin was not only an excellent scientist, but also an outstanding social activist. He spent a lot of time in social activities all his life. Franklin attached great importance to education. He established libraries and organized and founded many associations to improve the cultural quality of people from all walks of life. Just as he made new achievements in scientific research, due to the cruel rule of British colonists, the national liberation movement in North American colonies was growing. From 1757 to 1775, he went to Britain as a representative of North American colonies for many times 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. 1776, 70-year-old Franklin went to France and won the support of the French and European people for the North American War of Independence. From 65438 to 0787, he actively participated in the formulation of the American Constitution and organized a movement against slavery. [6]

He is an excellent politician and a veteran of the American War of Independence. He participated in the drafting of the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution, and actively advocated the abolition of slavery, which was deeply respected by the American people. He is the first American ambassador abroad (France), so he enjoys a high reputation in the world. 1753, Franklin received honorary degrees from Harvard University and Yale University. 1756, Benjamin Franklin received an honorary degree from William and Mary College.

Benjamin Franklin was an American industrialist, scientist, social activist, thinker, writer and diplomat in the18th century. He is the first scientist and inventor in American history who enjoys an international reputation. [7]

Commemoration of future generations

100 USD (1988, 1996, 2006, 5438+0, 2006, 2009), headed by Benjamin Franklin. [6]

reference data

[ 1]? Chang Yaoxin. A brief history of American literature. No.94 Weijin Road, Tianjin: Nankai University Press, 20 13.4: 33-39.

[2]? Atlantic Monthly: 100 people affecting the United States. World Civilization.20080319 [reference date 20 16-02-23]

[3]? Franklin. Subject Network.2013-04-03 [reference date 20 13-09-24]