Franklin. He's Electric

It's electric. He's electric. And when you start exploring this hands-on exhibit, you'll be amazed at what Ben Franklin and The Franklin Institute have meant to scientific history in America. The more than 850,000 visitors to The Franklin Institute each year are a lot like Ben: very curious. This permanent exhibit celebrates Franklin's curiosity—and the natural curiosity in all of us.

A group of boys
experiment with the glass armonica

Celebrate Ben Franklin's Scientific Legacy...
Benjamin Franklin was many things: an inventor and scientist, philosopher and writer, a savvy politician and successful businessman. But most of all, he was insatiably curious.
The Franklin Institute celebrates Ben's far-reaching, scientific legacy in the permanent exhibit

Franklin...He's Electric!, located in Franklin Gallery.
Created for the Institute's 175th Anniversary celebration, the exhibit explores Franklin's scientific genius: from meteorology and music, to electricity, optics, and aquatics. It also offers new insight into the inventive minds of other great scientists whom Franklin inspired, such as the Wright Brothers and Thomas Edison.
Objects with historical significance are featured, including rare 18th Century artifacts from the Institute's curatorial collections and Franklin's own inventions and models, including his lightning rod and a reproduction of his bifocals.
The role of The Franklin Institute in major scientific breakthroughs during its 175-year-plus history is highlighted in a special section, "The Wonderland of Science." This was a term coined to describe the museum shortly after its opening in 1934.

Visitors enjoy the astronomy components in the Wonderland of Science.

Hands-On Science...
Visitors walk through a series of 18th Century settings that depict Franklin's study, courtyard, and workshop, complete with original Franklin objects such as his glass armonica and electrostatic machine. Interactive devices also explain basic principles of science that Franklin de-mystified during his time but many of us take for granted today:

Visitors work with lenses to understand how and why Ben Franklin invented bi-focal glasses. This interactive area shows how different lenses can correct vision problems.
Visitors can hear the notes of a glass armonica, a musical instrument invented by Franklin that creates sounds by rubbing water on differently shaped glasses. His own glass armonica is also on display.
Franklin is perhaps best known for his contributions to the understanding of electricity. Visitors can view one of his lightning rods.
Did you know Ben Franklin was the first to use swim fins? An interactive device shows the advantages of a fin over a foot, as visitors try to push each one through water.
Franklin's practicality also led to his creation of the long-reach device, which he invented to retrieve books from high shelves. Visitors experiment with the device and practice grasping objects.
Other areas illustrate Franklin's contributions to the fields of meteorology, medicine and astronomy. A reproduction of his famous Franklin Stove is also on display.

The Wonderland of Science...
Although today The Franklin Institute is a world-renowned leader in hands-on science education, it was founded in 1824 to teach the mechanical arts. Over the years, it has also served as a clearinghouse for inventors and as a repository of patent models, drawings, and objects.
A special exhibit section tells the story of The Franklin Institute, and, in turn, the history of scientific progress in America. Here, visitors can experience "great moments" in science and technology through displays of rare objects that include:

A breathtaking 18th century orrery, an early model of the solar system.
The first photograph of lightning, taken by Franklin Institute member William Jennings.
Early motion picture technology and televisions, including devices invented in 1861 by former Franklin Institute president Coleman Sellers.
A poster advertising the world's first electrical exposition in 1887, organized by The Franklin Institute.

"The noblest question in the world is: What good can I do in it?"
-Benjamin Franklin

This glass armonica, creates sound by rubbing water on differently shaped glasses.

A Few Franklin Facts...
When most people think of Ben Franklin, they think of electricity. He is best known for the infamous kite-and-key experiment in June of 1752.
While he did not "invent" electricity, he did make the important discovery that lightning and electricity are the same. He proved that lightning is an electrical current in nature.
Franklin developed the single-fluid theory of electricity, introducing many of the terms used to describe electricity today: battery, conductor, condenser, charge, discharge, uncharged, negative, minus, plus, electric shock and electrician.
And because he understood both the power and danger of lightning, he invented the lightning rod to protect ships, buildings, and even people against it.
Franklin became a scientist because he was insatiably curious about the world around him. He wanted to know how things worked and figure out ways to make them better.
Here's a sampling of Franklin's many accomplishments:
METEOROLOGY and NAVIGATION:
Franklin was one of the first to discover that storms tend to move from west to east, and he made some of the first- recorded weather forecasts in his Poor Richard's Almanack. He also charted the Gulf Stream in detail and developed Daylight Savings Time.
AQUATICS:
An avid swimmer, Franklin developed early swim fins. As a boy, he had fashioned two wooden palettes, oval in shape and with a hole through which to put one's thumb. With one on each hand, he paddled through water, observing that they helped him to swim faster. He later developed swim fins to reduce what he called a "laborious and fatiguing operation."
HEAT AND FIRE:
Ben invented the Franklin Stove, an iron furnace that allowed people to heat their homes safely while using less wood. He discovered the conductivity of heat by color and established the first volunteer fire-fighting union and fire insurance company in Philadelphia.
FLIGHT:
After observing the world's first-known hot air balloon flight, Franklin correctly predicted that balloons would be used for military, recreational and scientific purposes.
BIOSCIENCE and MEDICINE:
As happens to most of us, Franklin's vision deteriorated as he grew older. He loved to read and grew tired of switching between two pairs of glasses—one that helped him to see things close, another to see things farther away. So, he cut the lenses from both pairs in half, then put half of each lens in a single frame, inventing bifocals. He also invented the first flexible urinary catheter (for his brother) and co- founded the Pennsylvania Hospital.

Franklin...He's Electric! is a permanent exhibit in the Franklin Gallery, located on the second floor of the Franklin Institute's Science Center near the Foucault Pendulum staircase