Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) was an American industrialist, scientist, social activist, thinker and diplomat in the18th century.
He is the first scientist and inventor in American history who enjoys an international reputation. 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. He first put forward the concept of lightning rod, and the lightning rod made of it avoided lightning disaster and broke superstition. 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. It enjoys a high reputation in the world.
He was born in poverty. 65,438+00 years old dropped out of school and went home to work. Since the age of 65,438+02, I have worked as an apprentice and helper in a printing factory. However, he is diligent and studious. In addition to mastering printing technology, he also widely read literature, history and philosophy, taught himself mathematics and four foreign languages, and devoted himself to writing. All these laid a solid foundation for his achievements in many aspects in his life.
In order to gain a foothold in the society at that time, he set up his own enterprise-printing house. Thanks to his efforts, reputation and management, he not only stood firm in the fierce competition in the printing industry, but also expanded his business to neighboring States and the West Indies, becoming a leader in the printing and publishing industry in North America.
He pays attention to observing natural phenomena and studying scientific problems. Starting from practice, he engaged in scientific experiments and observations, answered the question of "what is electricity" in electricity, called electricity in different states "positive electricity" and "negative electricity", put forward the "first theory" in electricity, and revealed the essence of lightning phenomenon in atmospheric electricity. Known as "the second Prometheus", these epoch-making electrical research achievements have made him a world-famous first-class scientist. He also has research in optics, heat, acoustics, mathematics, oceanography and botany. And there are a series of inventions, such as new stoves, lightning rods, electric wheels, three-wheeled clocks, bifocal glasses, automatic barbecue ovens, glass musical instruments, overhead book readers, new street lamps and so on. Therefore,
After Franklin became famous, he did a lot of work in cultural exchange and social welfare in North American colonies. He has successively organized and established academic, cultural, medical and health, fire protection, public security and other organizations and institutions such as Reading Club, American Philosophy Club, North American Association for the Advancement of Science, newspapers, libraries, bookstores, hospitals, universities, fire brigades and local militia organizations. He also reformed the postal system in North American colonies and established a unified postal system in North American colonies. He was an outstanding social activist and became an influential figure in the North American colonies.
He is not only good at solving special problems in natural science and practical problems in social and political activities, but also often explores many philosophical and social problems. He believes that the reason of social poverty is that workers must feed parasites; He loves freedom and peace, opposes war, hates racial discrimination and slavery, and advocates safeguarding the interests of blacks and Indians. He was one of the most profound bourgeois liberal thinkers at that time.
Franklin lived in the United States and was at a major turning point from a colony to an independent bourgeois country. He took an active part in the revolutionary movement and made great contributions to the victory of the War of Independence and the initial construction of the American national system.
At the Albany Conference attended by the leaders of North American colonies in 1754, he put forward the famous Albany Alliance plan, which was adopted by the conference and became the first person to instill the idea of the grand alliance of the United States of America into the colonial people.
In Pennsylvania, he always fought against the illegal behavior of the owners' group with the colonial people. 1757, he went to London to petition the king on behalf of the state legislature, demanding that the owners pay taxes, which was successful. 1764, he went to London for the second time and asked the British king to protect the interests of the colony, but it was fruitless. Later, the British government strengthened its repression of the North American colonies, which inspired the colonial people to struggle more strongly. Franklin's position turned completely to revolution.
Pennsylvania was originally a colony of owners, and the British King charles ii gave it to william penn on 168 1. Later, william penn's two sons inherited the inheritance. Owners enjoy the privileges of appointing officials, including the governor, vetoing parliamentary bills, tax exemption and so on.
1775 In May, he returned to the United States and immediately joined the revolutionary struggle. He served as the chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Security Committee, presided over the local military Committee, and drafted the state constitution with Paine. As a representative of Pennsylvania, he attended the Second Continental Congress and became one of the drafters of the American Declaration of Independence. He served as the US Postal Secretary and made great achievements in organizing postal services during the war. In the case of repeated setbacks in American military operations, as a member of the three-member Committee, he consulted with Washington and decided to mobilize North America 13, which made the War of Independence last for six years.
Under the situation that Britain is strong and the United States is weak, the colonial people have to fight for foreign aid. Franklin was ordered by the continental congress to go to France to win the alliance between the United States and France and fight against Britain. At that time, in a complicated diplomatic environment that was not conducive to the United States, he took advantage of the contradictions of European countries, seized the favorable opportunity, concluded an alliance agreement between the United States and France, and wooed manpower, material resources and financial resources. It ensured the victory of the war of independence. In the later period of the war, he participated in and presided over the negotiations between the United States and Britain, signed an Anglo-American peace treaty in favor of the United States, and successfully completed the arduous wartime diplomatic mission. After the war, he became the first new American ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to France, and stayed in France until 1885.
After returning home, he was elected governor of Pennsylvania for four consecutive years. He is a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee of the American Constitutional Convention. He proposed a bicameral parliamentary system to mediate the differences of opinions among delegates, which became one of the basic national systems in the United States.
1788 no longer holds public office, but still publishes political articles for the government to choose from, and is committed to promoting the abolition of slavery.
17 On April 7, 1990, Franklin died. On the day of his funeral, as many as 20 thousand people mourned for him, fully expressing the condolences of the American people. At the same time, not only the US Congress decided to mourn for him for one month, but also the French National Assembly decided to mourn for him, indicating that he belongs not only to the United States, but also to the whole world.
supplement
Benjamin Franklin-the most perfect representative of capitalist spirit, the greatest scientist, famous politician and writer in the eighteenth century in the United States. The truest portrayal of his life is what he himself said: "Honesty and diligence should be your eternal partners."
Lifelong learning.
170665438+1October17 Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston, North America. His father was an English painter who made candles and soap. He has ten children, and Franklin ranks eighth. 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.
It was during this period that Franklin learned arithmetic that he failed in the school exam twice, and read books about navigation by Sailor and Sermi. From these navigation books, he came into contact with geometry knowledge. He also read Locke's "Human Understanding" and "The Art of Thinking", written by the Boer Loyalist School. Franklin's research is getting deeper and deeper.
Franklin left Boston on 1723, and worked as a worker in Keevil Printing House in Philadelphia and Parvi and Watts Printing House in London, England. 1In the autumn of 726, Franklin returned to Philadelphia. At this time, he had mastered the exquisite printing technology, started to run a printing factory independently, printed and distributed the Pennsylvania Newspaper, and published the Poor Richard Yearbook, which was later translated into twelve languages and sold well in Europe and America. /kloc-in the autumn of 0/727, in Philadelphia, he and several young people founded the "* * * Reading Club" and organized a small library to help workers, craftsmen and clerks learn by themselves. Every Friday night, we discuss questions about philosophy, politics and natural science. At this time, Franklin was less than thirty years old. Through hard self-study, he became a knowledgeable scholar and an enlightenment thinker, and his reputation in North America is increasing day by day. Under Franklin's leadership, the "* * * Reading Society" existed for almost forty years, and later developed into an American philosophical society and became the center of American scientific thought.
1736, Franklin was elected secretary of the Pennsylvania legislature. 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.
Catch lightning
1746, an English scholar made an electrical experiment with a glass tube and a Leyden bottle in Boston. Franklin watched his performance with great interest and was deeply attracted by the emerging electrical science. Then Franklin began to study electricity. Franklin did many experiments at home, studied the properties of two kinds of charges, and explained the sources of electricity and the phenomena existing in matter. Before the eighteenth century, people could not correctly understand what lightning was. At that time, it was generally believed that thunder and lightning were the wrath of God. Some people of insight who don't believe in God tried to explain the cause of lightning, but they all failed. The view that lightning is "gas explosion" is quite popular in academic circles.
In an experiment, Franklin's wife Lide accidentally touched the Leyden bottle. When the lightning flashed, Lide was hit and fell to the ground, pale, and lay at home for a week before recovering. Although this was an accident in the experiment, Franklin, who was quick-thinking, thought of lightning in the air. After repeated thinking, he came to the conclusion that lightning is also a discharge phenomenon, which is essentially the same as electricity generated in the laboratory. So, he wrote a paper entitled "On lightning in the sky is the same as our electricity" and sent it to the Royal Society. But Franklin's great idea was ridiculed by many people, and some even ridiculed him as "a madman who wants to separate God from thunder and lightning".
Franklin was determined to prove everything with facts. 1752 One day in June, it was overcast with thunder and lightning, and a storm was coming. Franklin and his son William came to an open place with a kite with a metal pole on it. Franklin held the kite high, while his son flew with the kite string. Because of the strong wind, the kite was quickly put into the sky. In an instant, thunder and lightning, pouring rain. Franklin and his son are pulling a kite string together, and the father and son are anxiously looking forward to it. At this moment, just a flash of lightning passed over the kite. Franklin approached the string on the kite with his hand, and there was a terrible numbness at once. He couldn't restrain his inner excitement and shouted, "William, I got an electric shock!" " "Later, he introduced the electricity from the kite line into the Tesco bottle. After returning home, Franklin conducted various electrical experiments with lightning, which proved that lightning in the sky has exactly the same properties as electricity generated by artificial friction. Franklin's hypothesis that electricity in the sky and electricity on the ground are the same thing has been well confirmed in his own experiments.
The success of the kite experiment made Franklin famous in the scientific world. The Royal Society gave him a gold medal and hired him as a member of the Royal Society. His scientific works have also been translated into many languages. His electrical research has achieved a preliminary victory. However, in the face of honor and victory, Franklin did not stop further research on electricity. 1753, the famous Russian electrician Lichtman was killed by lightning in order to verify Franklin's experiment, and he was the first victim of electrical experiment. The price of blood makes many people wary and afraid of lightning detection. But faced with the threat of death, Franklin did not flinch. After many experiments, he made a practical lightning rod. He fixed an iron bar several meters long on the roof with insulating material, and a thick iron wire was tightly tied to the iron bar, reaching to the ground. When lightning struck the house, it went straight into the earth along the metal pole through the conductor, and the building was intact. 1754, lightning rod began to be used, but some people think it is ominous, and it will bring drought if it goes against God's will. Steal lightning rods at night. However, science will eventually overcome ignorance. After a gust of lightning and thunder, the cathedral caught fire; High-rise buildings with lightning rods are safe. Facts have educated people and made them believe in science. Lightning rods spread to Britain, Germany, France and finally all over the world.
Franklin's contribution to science lies not only in electrostatics, but also in a wide range of research fields. Mathematically, he created the Eight Rubik's Cube and Sixteen Rubik's Cube, which have special properties and complicated changes, and are still praised by scholars. In thermodynamics, he improved the heating stove, which can save three quarters of the fuel, and is called "franklin stove"; In optics, he invented bifocal glasses for the elderly, which can not only see near things, but also see far things. He and hartle of Cambridge University used the evaporation of ether to obtain a low temperature of minus 25 degrees (Celsius) and founded the theory of evaporative refrigeration. In addition, he also studied meteorology, geology, acoustics and ocean navigation, and made many achievements.
An outstanding social activist
Frank is 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. 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 participated in the Second Continental Congress and the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. 1776, 70-year-old Franklin crossed the ocean 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.
Superstar fall
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 grandchildren, Temple and Benjamin, were 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. In this way, Benjamin Franklin passed the 84th spring and autumn period of his life and lay quietly in the grave in the church yard. When Franklin died, the first tombstone was erected. The inscription reads: The second tombstone of printer Benjamin Franklin was erected for him by the masses. The inscription reads: lightning from the sky, civil rights from the tyrant. The two inscriptions sum up two brilliant careers in his life. "
2. Sir sir john franklin (1845 ~ 1847) is a legend in English history. /kloc-born in 0/787,/kloc-joined the army at the age of 0/4, and began the hardest naval career in his life. 1843, in order to connect the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean through the North Road and shorten the voyage between Britain and India, the Royal Admiralty is going to send people to continue exploring the Northwest Passage. As a result, Franklin, who had been governor of Tasmania for six years, was recalled to the country. After less than two years of preparation, a mast ship "Eli Bus" and "Troll" equipped with advanced ice-breaking equipment and huge steam power and a scientific research team composed of 138 people were established. In order to prevent accidents, the team has stored enough food for three years, and also carried 10 beef cattle as emergency food. 1845 On May 26th, Franklin, then 58, commanded this expedition fleet composed of elite royal navy, sailed out of the mouth of the Thames, passed the west coast of Greenland, and soon arrived at Bering Island. On July 26th, the fleet met an English whaling ship in the waters of Baffin Bay. According to the traditional customs of the international maritime community, Franklin gave the log book of the expedition fleet to the captain of the whaling ship, who presented it to the Royal Navy. Who knows, since then, this fleet has mysteriously disappeared.
By 1848, that is, more than two years after Franklin left Britain, the Royal Navy had not received any exact news about the expedition and decided to send rescuers to search and rescue on land and sea. But it was not until 1858 that the end of Franklin's expedition was revealed to the world. It turns out that Franklin's expedition arrived in Baffin Bay at the end of July. 1845. Because the sea ice blocked the way, they camped on an island in the southwest of devon island for the winter. The following summer, two ships of the expedition sailed along the Pierre Strait to King William Island and were trapped by ice floes. At this time, they were very upset to find that some canned food began to go bad. 1June, 847, Sir Franklin died unfortunately. After August, the ship was still freezing, and people had to spend the second winter on the ice. People began to die of septicemia because of lack of food. In order to survive, spring came, and 65,438+005 of them (the original 65,438+038) boarded a boat full of food and began a desperate breakthrough. When they arrived at Felix Point, they felt that their future was hopeless, so they put the documents in cans. Franklin, who was famous for a while, and the expedition he led left miserably. According to the field investigation, there are many discarded articles along the way between Cape Felix and the mouth of Judah, and the bodies can be seen everywhere, and no one is spared.