Benjamin Franklin: The Perfect Persona - Essay Example

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (The Perfect Persona) Justin M. Henderson ID Number: of History 331 Dr. Garber of School (University) Word Count: 2,224 (excludes abstract) Date of Submission: December 12, 2012 ABSTRACT Few people have changed the course of human history as much as all those great innovators and scientists of the past. Even fewer still have controlled the path of their own persona as Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). By the time of his death, Franklin had worked on his reputation to include several personas, such as: businessman, editor, politician, revolutionary, vigorous lover, inventor, and scientist. The famous lightning rod is the invention that sent Ben Franklin into world fame. Some questions have been raised on whether or not the kite and key experiment was just a hoax, to receive the favor of the Royal Society of London. However, regardless of these small doubts, Franklin is largely considered a genius of his day. Even by today’s standard, he is a man with so many successes that few have ever reached or surpassed. He was truly a polymath, an expert on so many areas in human endeavors. It was the kite and key experiment which cemented his own reputation because he was able to prove convincingly that lighting is just a form of electricity. It was a relatively simple but dangerous experiment but this single experiment defined his persona. With his broad intelligence and sharp wit, he was able to unequivocally present several versions of himself through his varied personas, shifting from one persona to another with equal aplomb. It was truly an outstanding achievement for a person in his time, and for these accomplishments, he is known for several things which perpetuated his legacy among the great people in history. A person of his stature left a lasting imprint on succeeding generations for which people are greatly thankful for his scientific inventions and enduring contributions to the knowledge of mankind. In this paper, the scientific persona of Benjamin Franklin is discussed in greater detail to show how his scientific genius contributed to the understanding and knowledge of the nature of electricity, which in his time, was still newly-researched and barely understood by a majority of people. Introduction Benjamin Franklin is rightly considered as one of the intellectual giants of his time and perhaps of all time. Although a printer by trade or profession, he acquired his worldwide fame as a scientist, and in particular, his leading-edge experiments on electricity which in his time was a little understood scientific concept. Among his peers, he is considered as the most accomplished American, being adept in a variety of roles as an author, political theorist, civic activist, diplomat and statesman. As a scientist, he embodied the golden age of the American Enlightenment, by his profound theories on physics and his illuminating discoveries on the nature of electricity, which was still in its infancy at that time and poorly understood as a form of energy. It is quite difficult to ascribe a particular persona to a person who is so accomplished in a good number of fields but Ben Franklin as a leading-edge scientist can be considered as his persona that outshone the other personas he had manifested to society at large, and to the scientific community, in particular. Many of the concepts and ideas concerning electricity were discovered around the turn of the seventeenth century, about the same time frame when Ben Franklin lived and did his own experiments on electricity. Contrary to popular opinion, he did not discover nor invent electricity as electricity had always existed before in Nature, such as in lightning during thunderstorms and in some unique animal species, such as the electric eel, which incidentally was mentioned by the ancient Egyptians as early as 2750 B.C.E. (before current era). What Franklin discovered and for which he is credited was the discovery of the relationship between lighting and electricity, that these two phenomena are somewhat linked to each other, due to his famous kite experiment.1 It was an experiment that has not a few doubters, who questioned whether he actually did it or not. The so-called Age of Enlightenment was the period during which science, logic, reason, and common sense seemed to have taken precedence over religion, superstition, and most wrong beliefs about Nature and the whole environment. In this regard, significance of the discovery that lightning is just a form of electricity was to dispel the wrong notions about its true nature, which some superstitious people had previously ascribed to all other sources, such as the wrath of God. This insight was significant in this respect for it contributed to the scientific knowledge and help lift a veil of mystery about lightning during thunderstorms. The kite experiment enabled Franklin to invent a devise by which people can seek protection from lightning. Prior to his discovery, the great majority of people erroneously thought they are safe inside tall buildings, when in fact, this tendency instead was an invitation to a disaster, when people can be literally fried alive. Other eminent scientists had likewise contributed to the better understanding of the true nature of electricity, such as Galvani, Volta, Edison, Tesla, Faraday and Marconi among others; it was the invention by Benjamin Franklin of the lightning rod that helped ensure his legacy.2 This simple device that made a practical application of his knowledge about lightning as a form of electricity helped saved many lives. People before had no idea how lightning could kill and all they know was that it can literally fry people by burning them alive with its millions of volts. It is only right and proper Ben Franklin attained world renown because of his lightning rod as lightning and thunderstorms occur practically anywhere in the world. A simple device making use of an insight gained from a simple experiment certainly has a wide-ranging and positive impact on the broader social world, an invention still in use today worldwide in skyscrapers.3 Discussion The essence of science is to provide a logical or reasonable explanation for an observed phenomena that occurs in nature. Such is the case with lightning, which superstitious people had ascribed to the god Jove throwing his javelins in a fit of rage to punish the people who angered him somehow. The rapid succession of a series of discoveries based on theories about electricity helped people understand how it works and how it can be harnessed for practical everyday use. It was indeed a mystery to people in those earlier times how something they cannot see or feel can possibly kill them, without first understanding its true nature. Scientists and researchers build on the previous knowledge gathered by the people before them, as excellently acknowledged by the great Isaac Newton “If I have seen farther than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants” and so it is in the case with electricity but where some achievements stand out larger than others. The innovations and inventions of Ben Franklin belong in this latter category. This Age of Enlightenment also coincided with the start of the Industrial Revolution in England which saw many contraptions being developed due to increased scientific knowledge. It was an exciting period, where many old notions were overturned by new paradigms in politics, society, science, economics and in all other aspects of civilized life because of new inventions, foremost of which was the steam engine which harnessed mechanical power to great benefit. The science of electricity started to yield its secrets, leading to greater understanding of its nature and led to how it can be put to practical use. A key discovery related to electricity during this period was the discovery by Galvani about animal electricity, which still finds use in medicine today. It was only a matter of time when static and flowing electricity could be harnessed for humanity. Although admittedly no one single person can claim exclusive credit for all the benefits derived from the understanding and eventual use of electricity, the contraptions and inventions of Benjamin Franklin are quite numerous to make him an outstanding figure in this new industry of electricity. Among these was the electric motor, which made possible the utility of an ephemeral element like electricity, and which spurred the growth of the automobile industry because cars can now start by using electricity but cheap oil prevented its further development until decades later. His insights helped other scientists tremendously in their own research works. Ben Franklin observed many other phenomena related to electricity and his findings are instrumental in the major works of other scientists, who used the knowledge he had derived to be used as the foundation in their own experiments and eventual innovations and inventions. This is an amazing fact considering that Franklin had been preoccupied with so many other things at the time, as attested by his various personas. For example, Alessandro Volta was able to develop his voltaic pile (the first precursor of the modern battery) based on the previous knowledge gained by Franklin in electricity experiments. Michael Faraday soon created the first electric dynamo by building on the previous works of Ben Franklin. The big modern power generators of today are based on the same principles. Likewise, modern inventions like the light bulb by Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan came into existence and ushered convenience by replacing old candle lamps. In a nutshell, many of the inventions by Ben Franklin were the result of his flashes of a genius. The prime example for this wonderful trait is the lightning rod, which had no precedence in the history of science, an absolutely new and original invention, unlike other inventions which are only mere improvements upon existing ones, evolutionary rather than revolutionary. The rise of the electricity industry spawned numerous advances in other fields, primary that in medicine. Electricity had been used to cure a variety of ailments, among them depression, stroke, movement disorders (such as Parkinsons disease and myasthenia gravis), epilepsy, some speech disorders, defects in the central motor functions and a host of other brain-related ailments which utilizes the alternating-current (AC) type of electricity. The original invention of Franklin to use a capacitor static discharge had been relegated to the back burner, but it has lately made a comeback of sorts, this time in the field of cardiology. It was at a certain time quite fashionable to use massive but extremely short jolts of powerful AC discharges to cure certain ailments but a delicate organ like the heart cannot be hit with an AC discharge but rather DC electricity that is more benign, which is now the modern defibrillator favored by both doctors and patients.4 Indeed, the modern world of today utilizes electricity in many other aspects of life, such as the dentists drill, in construction like the electric drill, heavy earth-moving equipment, the use of elevators and escalators in high-rise buildings, and especially in the world of computers. Life as we know it today will grind to a halt if electricity supplies are suddenly cut short, such as time of brownouts or blackouts in which life literally and figuratively stops. Many experts have since warned about this over-reliance on technology, especially on the computer software being used to a great extent in almost all aspects of daily life, from shopping to banking to communicating. In the time period of Ben Franklin, electricity was a nascent industry and people could not have possibly foreseen how ubiquitous it would become in the lives of even ordinary people. A major catastrophic shutdown due to software failure is predicted between now and the year 2025. The scientific persona – Benjamin Franklin personified what is the perfect persona as he did not consciously sought fame. This was exemplified by his immense talents in various fields, which cannot be matched by some other polymaths, such Michaelangelo who was excellent in a fewer fields of endeavor such as painting and sculpting only while others like Sir Isaac Newton excelled in physics only. It is difficult to ascribe the exact motivation of Ben Franklin in doing what he did, but one may look at his childhood circumstances to get a fair idea why he acted in this way with regards to his numerous scientific accomplishments. Even as a child, he already was precocious despite having ended his formal schooling at the tender age of ten due to family financial constraints, as he was part of a very large brood of seventeen siblings. He was largely also a self-taught man, by being a voracious reader with a prodigious memory too. His scientific persona can be considered as an enigma, as he steadfastly refused to patent his inventions. His scientific persona was further enhanced by this generous gesture to let all the future generations benefit freely from his inventions; he did this as a matter of principle by arguing that he himself had benefited from the prior works, inventions, and discoveries of other people. He is a benefactor of sorts in this regard, but a partial explanation could be that he was already quite a financial success as a printer, author and publisher, so he could certainly afford to give away his inventions for free. He was poor as a child and employed in several odd jobs as a youngster so he could support himself and engage his intellectual pursuits. He knew poverty early in his life and saw no need to further enrich himself in a successful profession and although trained as minister, he became a mason for the rest of his life and he considers his inventions as his contribution.5 He did not follow conventional wisdom to profit from his massive intellectual productions. Conclusion It is hard to discern what makes a person become one of the great personas in history as people evolve over their lifetimes. However, the case of Ben Franklin is something very unique, considering that he did not have any formal schooling at all except in his younger years. Others have attained greatness due to high academic achievements prior to attaining worldwide renown but Franklin did so out of his sheer intellect. He was also a maverick in the sense he did not even patent a single invention, preferring to give back everything as his contribution to humankind. His humanistic beliefs, based on masonic lodge principles, was to treat all human beings as created equal by God. This made him free all his slaves and he became an ardent abolitionist afterwards, without any hint of misgivings about freeing his slaves when some other peers or his contemporaries hesitated doing so because slavery was so profitable in those days. He probably could not stomach the way black people were treated so meanly by the white people.6 Although some of latter-day scientists and writers questioned whether his famous kite experiment was just a hoax or a practical prank, this does not detract from his achievements as a scientist. Moreover, he had obliquely referred to this kite experiment in his autobiography, so the matter could be put to rest forever. It is interesting to note that Franklins scientific persona has not changed a bit since his heyday and people continue to praise and admire his work, notably his scientific and political contributions. He was and still is the perfect kind of scientific persona representing the new American identity, as he had been credited also with coming up with the idea of a federal union among the states.7 In short, he himself was a sociological construct. Bibliography Block, Seymour Stanton. “Benjamin Franklin: Americas Inventor,” American History 40, no. 6 (February 2006): 38-73. Bruun, Erik A. and Jay Crosby, Our Nations Archive: The History of the United States in Documents. New York, NY, USA: Tess Press, 1999. Daston, Lorraine and Otto Sibum, “Scientific Personas and their Histories,” Science in Context 16, no. 2 (2003): 1-8. Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Mineola, NY, USA: Dover Publications, 1996. Krider, E. Philip. “Benjamin Franklin and Lightning Rods.” Physics Today 59, no. 1 (2006): 42-48. Niedermeyer, E. “Benjamin Franklin and Static Electricity: Considerations of Past, Present, and Future,” American Journal of Electroneurodiagnostic Technology 43, no. 1 (March 2003): 26-32. Stansfield, William D. “Franklins Electric Kite Experiment.” Skeptic 13, no. 4 (December 2008): 64-66. Read More