Synopses & Reviews
Benjamin Franklin is well known to most of us, yet his fundamental and wide--ranging contributions to science are still not adequately understood. Until now he has usually been incorrectly regarded as a practical inventor and tinkerer rather than a scientific thinker. He was elected to membership in the elite Royal Society because his experiments and original theory of electricity had made a science of that new subject. His popular lame came from his two lightning experiments the sentry--box experiment and the later and more famous experiment of the kite--which confirmed his theoretical speculations about the identity of electricity and provided a basis for the practical invention of the lightning rod. Franklin advanced the eighteenth-century understanding of all phenomena of electricity and provided a model for experimental science in general.
I. Bernard Cohen, an eminent historian of science and the principal elucidator of Franklin's scientific work, examines his activities in fields ranging from heat to astronomy. He provides masterful accounts of the theoretical background of Franklin's science (especially his study of Newton), the experiments he performed, and their influence throughout Europe as well as the United States. Cohen emphasizes that Franklin's political and diplomatic career cannot be understood apart from his scientific activities, which established his reputation and brought him into contact with leaders of British and European society. A supplement by Samuel J. Edgerton considers Franklin's attempts to improve the design of heating stoves, another practical application that arose from theoretical interests.
This volume will be valuable to all readers wanting to learn more about Franklin and to gain a deeper appreciation of the development of science in America.
Review
Reminds us that being the New World's foremost scientist was no easy task. The inventor of the lightning rod had to contend with a superstitious age...Resisting the urge of many scholars to allow their specialties to distort the subject, Cohen shows us Franklin's science as related to the other characteristics of a cheerily curious mind at work in yeasty times. Journal of American History
Review
Cohen provides not only a lucid analysis of Franklin's ideas but also a sense of the intellectual context...Cohen's position as a leading historian of American science has found eloquent expression in this engaging and valuable book. Simon Baatz
Synopsis
I. Bernard Cohen, the eminent historian of science and the principal elucidator of Franklin's scientific work, examines Franklin's scientific activities in fields ranging from heat to astronomy. He provides masterly accounts of the theoretical background of Franklin's science (especially his study of Newton), the experiments he performed, and their influence throughout Europe and the United States.
About the Author
I. Bernard Cohen, Victor S. Thomas Professor of the History of Science, Emeritus, at Harvard University, is one of the founders of the modern study of the history of science.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Brooke Hindle
Preface
Introduction
Franklin's Scientific Style
How Practical Was Franklin's Science?
The Mysterious "Dr. Spence"
Collinson's Gift and the New German Experiments
The Kite, the Sentry Box, and the Lightning Rod
Father Divi and the First European Lightning Rod (with Robert Schofield)
Prejudice against the Introduction of Lightning Rods
Heat and Color
The Pennsylvania Hospital
The Transit of Mercury
Faraday and the "Newborn Baby"
Supplement: The Franklin Stove (Samuel J. Edgerton, Jr.)
Notes
Index