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KF5JRV > TODAY 10.06.19 13:40l 8 Lines 2488 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 37821_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History.- Jun 10
Path: IW8PGT<IZ3LSV<F1OYP<ON0AR<GB7CIP<N3HYM<KF5JRV
Sent: 190610/1138Z 37821@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
On this day in 1752, Benjamin Franklin flies a kite during athunderstorm and collects ambient electrical charge in a Leyden jar,enabling him to demonstrate the connection between lightning andelectricity. Franklin became interested in electricity in the mid-1740s,a time when much was still unknown on the topic, and spent almost adecade conducting electrical experiments. He coined a number of termsused today, including battery, conductor and electrician. He alsoinvented the lightning rod, used to protect buildings and ships.Franklin was born on January 17, 1706, in Boston, to a candle and soapmaker named Josiah Franklin, who fathered 17 children, and his wifeAbiah Folger. Franklin’s formal education ended at age 10 and he went towork as an apprentice to his brother James, a printer. In 1723,following a dispute with his brother, Franklin left Boston and ended upin Philadelphia, where he found work as a printer. Following a briefstint as a printer in London, Franklin returned to Philadelphia andbecame a successful businessman, whose publishing ventures included thePennsylvania Gazette and Poor Richard’sAlmanack, a collection ofhomespun proverbs advocating hard work and honesty in order to getahead. The almanac, which Franklin first published in 1733 under the penname Richard Saunders, included such wisdom as: “Early to bed, early torise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.ö Whether or not Franklinfollowed this advice in his own life, he came to represent the classicAmerican overachiever. In addition to his accomplishments in businessand science, he is noted for his numerous civic contributions. Amongother things, he developed a library, insurance company, city hospitaland academy in Philadelphia that would later become the University ofPennsylvania.Most significantly, Franklin was one of the founding fathers of theUnited States and had a career as a statesman that spanned four decades.He served as a legislator in Pennsylvania as well as a diplomat inEngland and France. He is the only politician to have signed all fourdocuments fundamental to the creation of the U.S.: the Declaration ofIndependence (1776), the Treaty of Alliance with France (1778), theTreaty of Paris (1783), which established peace with Great Britain, andthe U.S. Constitution (1787).Franklin died at age 84 on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia. He remainsone of the leading figures in U.S. history.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
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