Benjamin Franklin
Diplomat, printer, writer, scientist, inventor, publisher, and polymath (etc., etc.).
Invented bifocals! And the rocking chair! And all sorts of other stuff!
Ever wet your finger and rub them around the edge of a glass to make that noise…? Franklin invented the glass armonica, an instrument that takes that idea, but levels it up. It’s bananas. See the video below.
Inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame.
Married for more than four decades, but spent two decades apart. Womanizer…?
Both enslaved people and ran ads about runaways, but eventually became a vocal abolitionist.
Only one son, “Billy” Franklin, made it to adulthood. The two of them attended King George III’s coronation. William ended up a Loyalist and Benjamin was one of the Founding Fathers. It caused quite a rift in their once-close relationship.
Liked to strip down, open the windows, and just … think. Naked.
I heard on the Next Big Idea Club podcast that Franklin said “Embrace the errata.” I jotted it down because I too embrace the errata, but didn’t have a fancy name for it. When I dug back through the transcript from the podcast, turns out the actual quote is from Eric Weiner, author Ben & Me: In Search of a Founder's Formula for a Long and Useful Life.
Posts that mention Benjamin Franklin
I didn’t want it to end