He couldn't make out people, especially in France where he had a hard time with the language. You have to understand that when he invented these he was over 70 years of age.
Mark - Yes, he had a hard time seeing people at a long distance and also he had a hard time reading. Was he short sighted himself?Ĭhris - Bifocals are for long-sighted people. Kat - It also says here that he invented bifocals. Mark - On several occasions he gave a form of shock therapy which many scientists of that day believed in. He would electrify them.Ĭhris - Let's get to the bottom of that. He also tried to help people who had physical problems. Mark - No question that he risked his life many times not only for his country but also as a statesman and also as a scientist with his kite experiment.
I should also mention that he would qualify as one of the first Naked Scientists because he had a theory of colds, and he would walk around in the morning totally naked and have the windows open.Ĭhris - He was a man hell-bent on self-destruction, wasn't he, with his lightning rods and walking around naked! Mark - Yes, because it does require water and so forth. Kat - And he invented the armonica, which makes him the coolest man on Earth. So he's right up there with Da Vinci and others with this broad selection of fame and interests. Mark - Well there's a book called the 100 most influential people in the world and Franklin is listed there as the most multi-talented genius of all ages. Would you class him as a Renaissance man up there with someone like Da Vinci? Kat - I'm staggered by Franklin's achievements in all aspects. Mark - It wasn't very successful because it leaked a lot so smoke went into the area and it didn't always work that well, but it at least worked in theory. It's just a conduit to the sky for the heat because the heat goes straight up the chimney. In other words in stayed much longer in the fireplace.Ĭhris - I could use on eof those because in my dining room we've got this big open fireplace and you can burn off a big of coal in it in an evening. Mark - It's basically a box inside a fireplace that allowed the heat to go up and then down and then out. I'm not sure I know what a Franklin stove is by the way, so perhaps you'd better tell me. I made a list: the Franklin stove, the lightning rod, bifocals, charting of the Gulf Stream, daylight savings, the armonica.Ĭhris - How did he come up with that lot? That's a lifetime's achievement to make one of those things. He wasn't into high theory and academia and was an inventor of five or six things. But his greatest love was science and he was very much a practical inventor. He was a great statesman and on eof our founding fathers and a very successful printer. Ben Franklin was the first scientific American. Mark - I am a direct descendent of Ben Franklin. Chris - What's your connection to Benjamin Franklin and who was he?