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Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on Jan 17, 1706

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Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on Jan 17, 1706

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Benjamin Franklin was an American politician, polymath, scientist, and inventor. He is considered one of the Founding Fathers of the U.S. Born: January 17, 1706, Milk Street, Boston, Massachusetts.

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Benjamin Franklin | Ken Burns | PBS | Watch Benjamin Franklin: A Ken Burns Film | Full Documentary Now Streaming | PBS

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Ken Burns's four-hour documentary, Benjamin Franklin, explores the revolutionary life of one of the 18th century's most consequential figures, whose work and words unlocked the mystery of electricity and helped create the United States.

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In 1717, Franklin created his first invention a pair of Swim fins.

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In 1717, Franklin created his first invention a pair of Swim fins.

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An avid swimmer and champion of its various health benefits from a very young age, Franklin invented the first pair of swim fins in 1717 at the age of 11. Unlike the modern fins swimmers use today, Franklin created his fins to attach to his hands.

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What year did Benjamin Franklin invent swim fins?

Benjamin Franklin invented the swim fins in 1717 (at the age of 11).

What year modern fins was invented?

Who invented swim fins? Swim fins were invented by none other than famed inventor and founding father, Benjamin Franklin. An avid swimmer and champion of its various health benefits from a very young age, Franklin invented the first pair of swim fins in 1717 at the age of 11.

Did Ben Franklin invent swim fins?

An avid swimmer, Franklin was just 11 years old when he invented swimming fins-two oval pieces of wood that, when grasped in the hands, provided extra thrust through the water. He also tried out fins for his feet, but they weren't as effective.

Why did Franklin invent swim fins?

Wanting to increase his speed in the water, Franklin devised fins that he wore on his hands. The fins were shaped like lily pads or an artist's paint pallet and helped the swimmer attain greater speed with each stroke.

Which is the oldest swim stroke?

breaststroke
Some people refer to breaststroke as the "frog" stroke, as the arms and legs move somewhat like a frog swimming in the water. The stroke itself is the slowest of any competitive strokes and is thought to be the oldest of all swimming strokes.

Why do divers wear fins?

Answer:Underwater divers wear fin-like flippers on their feet to make their body to get streamlined which helps to reduce the drag of water acting on their body, thus helping them to move easily and quickly in deep water.

What's the difference between flippers and fins?

Fins have no true bones or skeletal structure within and are composed primarily of cartilage. A flipper has a bone structure as well as cartilage, joints, and tendons.

Is Benjamin Franklin in the swimming Hall of Fame?

Benjamin Franklin was an excellent swimmer. many feats of activity, both upon and under the water, that surprised and pleased those to whom they were novelties." Franklin's Phelpsian feats earned him an honorary induction into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1968.

Why is Harriet Tubman not on the $20 bill?

Putting Harriet Tubman on the $20 Bill Is Not a Sign of Progress. It's a Sign of Disrespect. A congressional staffer departs holding a visual aid following a news conference regarding the redesigned $20 bill meant to honor Harriet Tubman, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on June 18, 2019.

Who was the first person to invent swim fins?

The modern swim fins was invented by Lieutenant Commander Louis de Corlieu. He first made his fist pair of swim fins for a group of navy officers. Louis de Corlieu left the French Navy and commit to his invention.

When did Louis de Corlieu invent the swimfin?

Modern swimfins are an invention by the Frenchman Louis de Corlieu [ fr], capitaine de corvette ( Lieutenant Commander) in the French Navy. In 1914 Corlieu made a practical demonstration of his first prototype for a group of navy officers, Yves le Prieur among them who, years later in 1926, invented an early model of scuba set.

What was the purpose of the swimming fins?

The fins were in a shape of a art palette. He made hands fins so it can give him more speed. The swimming fins are used by pushing the edges forward and struck the water with the flat surface of the hand and feet swimming fins. He made his swimming fins for his feet fitted to his ankle and his soles.

Why did Leonardo da Vinci invent swimfins?

This improves efficiency and helps to minimize oxygen consumption. Short, stiff-bladed fins are effective for short bursts of acceleration and maneuvering, and are useful for bodysurfing. Early inventors, including Leonardo da Vinci and Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, toyed with the concept of swimfins.

Ben Franklin was the first person to invent and test swim fins. Growing up in Boston, Ben loved to swim. He wanted to find a way to make swimming easier. When he was eleven, he built a set of wooden swim paddles for his hands, similar to the fins of a fish.

Modern swimfins are an invention by the Frenchman Louis de Corlieu [ fr], capitaine de corvette ( Lieutenant Commander) in the French Navy. In 1914 Corlieu made a practical demonstration of his first prototype for a group of navy officers, Yves le Prieur among them who, years later in 1926, invented an early model of scuba set.

This improves efficiency and helps to minimize oxygen consumption. Short, stiff-bladed fins are effective for short bursts of acceleration and maneuvering, and are useful for bodysurfing. Early inventors, including Leonardo da Vinci and Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, toyed with the concept of swimfins.

What kind of material is a swim fin made out of?

The vast majority are made in the "full-foot" design with very rigid footpockets, which serves to reduce weight and maximize power transfer from the leg into the fin. Freediving fin blades are commonly made of plastic, but are also often made from composite materials using fibreglass or carbon fibre reinforcement.

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What year did Benjamin Franklin invent swim fins?

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Benjamin Franklin invented the swim fins in 1717 (at the age of 11). Who invented swim fins? Swim fins were invented by none other than famed inventor and founding father, Benjamin Franklin. An avid swimmer and champion of its various health benefits from a very young age, Franklin invented the first pair of swim fins in 1717 at the age of 11.

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1718, Franklin is apprenticed to Brother James at the printing shop

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1718, Franklin is apprenticed to Brother James at the printing shop

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Benjamin Franklin, the Printer. And Benjamin did make it on his own. Eventually he opened his own printing shop in Philadelphia. Benjamin's shop printed all kinds of things including Pennsylvania's currency (money), his own newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, and his Poor Richard's Almanac.

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The first time Benjamin Franklin went to England was in 1724 at the age of 18. He was going to by printing equipment to open up his own print shop and possibly start a newspaper.

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In the fall of 1727 Benjamin Franklin and a group of friends founded the Junto Club also known as the Leather Apron Club. The 12 members were tradesmen and artisans who met Friday evenings to discuss issues of morals, politics or natural philosophy. The club lasted 38 years.

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In the fall of 1727 Benjamin Franklin and a group of friends founded the Junto Club also known as the Leather Apron Club. The 12 members were tradesmen and artisans who met Friday evenings to discuss issues of morals, politics or natural philosophy. The club lasted 38 years. Franklin proposed that the group be formed of "ingenious men -a physician, a mathematician, a geographer, a natural philosopher, a botanist, a chemist, and a mechanician (engineer)".

A branch of the Junto Cub was the American Philosophical Society created in 1743 and which still exists.

Members of the Junto club were avid readers and intellectuals involved in their individual improvement and that of society. The Junto was a launching pad for many public projects. Out of the meetings came proposals for the creation of the first lending library, the Union Fire Company, the University of Pennsylvania, volunteer militia, Pennsylvania Hospital among other public project.

The first public affair of the Junto club was the regulation and improvement of the city watch. They proposed taxing land owners in proportion to their property. Although the plan was not immediately executed it prepared the minds of the people and paved the way for the law that was adopted years later.

Meetings

Franklin devised a group of questions to guide discussions at meetings and to provide a structure:

1. Have you met with anything in the author you last read, remarkable, or suitable to be communicated to the Junto? Particularly in history, morality, poetry, physics, travels, mechanic arts, or other parts of knowledge?

2. What new story have you lately heard agreeable for telling in conversation?

3. Has any citizen in your knowledge failed in his business lately, and what have you heard of the cause?

4. Have you lately heard of any citizen's thriving well, and by what means?

5. Have you lately heard how any present rich man, here or elsewhere, got his estate?

6. Do you know of any fellow citizen, who has lately done a worthy action, deserving praise and imitation? or who has committed an error proper for us to be warned against and avoid?

7. What unhappy effects of intemperance have you lately observed or heard? of imprudence? of passion? or of any other vice or folly?

8. What happy effects of temperance? of prudence? of moderation? or of any other virtue?

9. Have you or any of your acquaintance been lately sick or wounded? If so, what remedies were used, and what were their effects?

10. Who do you know that are shortly going [on] voyages or journeys, if one should have occasion to send by them?

11. Do you think of anything at present, in which the Junto may be serviceable to mankind? to their country, to their friends, or to themselves?

12. Hath any deserving stranger arrived in town since last meeting, that you heard of? and what have you heard or observed of his character or merits? and whether think you, it lies in the power of the Junto to oblige him, or encourage him as he deserves?

13. Do you know of any deserving young beginner lately set up, whom it lies in the power of the Junto any way to encourage?

14. Have you lately observed any defect in the laws, of which it would be proper to move the legislature an amendment? Or do you know of any beneficial law that is wanting?

15. Have you lately observed any encroachment on the just liberties of the people?

16. Hath anybody attacked your reputation lately? and what can the Junto do towards securing it?

17. Is there any man whose friendship you want, and which the Junto, or any of them, can procure for you?

18. Have you lately heard any member's character attacked, and how have you defended it?

19. Hath any man injured you, from whom it is in the power of the Junto to procure redress?

20. In what manner can the Junto, or any of them, assist you in any of your honourable designs?

21. Have you any weighty affair in hand, in which you think the advice of the Junto may be of service?

22. What benefits have you lately received from any man not present?

23. Is there any difficulty in matters of opinion, of justice, and injustice, which you would gladly have discussed at this time?

24. Do you see any thing amiss in the present customs or proceedings of the Junto, which might be amended?

Members of the Junto Club

Among the original members of the Junto Club are:

Hugh Meredith - Employed by Samuel Keimer and business partner of Franklin.

William Parsons - Shoe maker and amateur mathematician who became surveyor general.

William Maugridge - Mechanic and cabinet maker.

Steven Potts - Employed by Samuel Keimer.

George Webb - Runaway Oxford student and apprentice with Keimer.

Thomas Godfrey - Amateur mathematician and glass worker.

Joseph Breintall - Poetry lover. Scrivener, writing or reading letters to court and legal documents.

Robert Grace - Gentleman of fortune.

William Coleman - Merchant with exacting morals.

Nicholas Scull - Surveyor who became surveyor general.

John Jones - Quaker and shoe maker.

=> Learn more about Franklin's public projects

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In the fall of 1727 Benjamin Franklin and a group of friends founded the Junto Club also known as the Leather Apron Club. The 12 members were tradesmen and artisans who met Friday evenings to discuss issues of morals, politics or natural philosophy. The club lasted 38 years.

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1728, Franklin opens printing office in Philadelphia PA.

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1728, Franklin opens printing office in Philadelphia PA.

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Franklin's Printing House, In 1728, when Franklin was 22 years old, he entered a partnership with Hugh Meredith, a co-worker at Keimer's Printing Shop.

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1730,Franklin got married to Deborah Read.

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1730,Franklin got married to Deborah Read.

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On September 1, 1730 Benjamin Franklin married Deborah Read. They entered a common-law agreement which protected them from bigamy if her runaway husband returned. Deborah assisted in the business by folding and stitching pamphlets, tending shop, purchasing old linen rags for paper makers.

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1731,Franklin Found the first public library. 

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1731,Franklin Found the first public library. 

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The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded in 1731 by Benjamin Franklin and a group of his friends, became the first American subscription library. The Library Company, while founded as a membership library, did allow members to borrow books, and so may have been the first truly public library.

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1732, publishes the first edition of Poor Richard's Almanack.

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1732, publishes the first edition of Poor Richard's Almanack.

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On December 19, 1732, Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia first published Poor Richard's Almanack. The book, filled with proverbs preaching industry and prudence, was published continuously for 25 years and became one of the most popular publications in colonial America, selling an average of 10,000 copies a year.

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His most notable achievement probably was the appointment of Benjamin Franklin as postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737. Franklin was only 31 years old at the time, the struggling printer and publisher of The Pennsylvania Gazette. Later he would become one of the most popular men of his age.

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Franklin's postal career began in 1737 when he was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia. Franklin used his position to increase the circulation of his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, by allowing riders to carry it to subscribers.

In 1753 after the death of Elliot Benger, the Postmaster General, Franklin was appointed Postmaster General of America, a post he shared with William Hunter. During his employment he toured all the northern colonies to survey post roads and post offices establishing more efficient routes. He traveled a total of 1,600 miles. In order to improve delivery time he had riders carry mail during night and day.

Although Franklin did not invent it, he designed an odometer and attached it to the front wheel of the letter carriage, the odometer measured the number of revolutions of the wheel. Each revolution was counted by dials and by the end of the trip the mailman would know the distance traveled by multiplying the number of revolutions by the circumference of the wheel. That way Franklin determined which routes were the quickest. He determined postal rates based on distance and weight and were standardized for all colonies. He also mandated the delivery of newspapers for a small fee. His improvements turned the American Post Offices profitable for the first time.

Franklin remained Postmaster General until 1774. After the Hutchinson Affair Franklin was judged too sympathetic to the colonies and was dismissed from his post.

In 1775 the newly established Continental Congress assumed the role of government of the colonies and was established in Philadelphia. Franklin had just returned from England and was appointed member of the Second Continental Congress. He was elected to head a committee to establish a postal system within the 13 colonies. On July, 1775 he was appointed Postmaster General.

The establishment of this organization represents the basis of what became the United States Postal Service.

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Franklin's postal career began in 1737 when he was appointed postmaster of Philadelphia. Franklin used his position to increase the circulation of his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, by allowing riders to carry it to subscribers. In 1753 after the death of Elliot Benger, the Postmaster General, Franklin was appointed Postmaster General of America, a post he shared with William Hunter.

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1741, Franklin publishes The General Magazine.

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1741, Franklin publishes The General Magazine.

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Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at age 23.

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As of 1748 Franklin had “retired” from printing to concentrate on his scientific pursuits, while maintaining a financial interest in the business with his new partner, David Hall. Instead, Franklin found himself increasingly involved in civic affairs.

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1752, Franklin publishes a book on Electricity in London.

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1752, Franklin publishes a book on Electricity in London.

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Benjamin Franklin,Benjamin Franklin and Electricity. His idea was about electricity and lightning. Franklin noticed several similarities between the two: They both created light, made loud crashes when they exploded, were attracted to metal, had a particular smell, and more.

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In 1752, Franklin conducted his farmer's experiment Kite experiment.

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In 1752, Franklin conducted his farmer's experiment Kite experiment.

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Franklin's experiment demonstrated the connection between lightning and electricity. To dispel another myth, Franklin's kite was not struck by lightning. If it had been, he probably would have been electrocuted, experts say. Instead, the kite picked up the ambient electrical charge from the storm.

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1753, Franklin receives honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale.

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1753, Franklin receives honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale.

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Yale honored Franklin with the honorary degree of Master in Arts in 1753 for his scientific accomplishments. Starting in 1954, Yale became home to the grandest collection of Franklin Papers, or documents and images related to Benjamin Franklin, in existence.

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1754, Franklin publishes Join or Die Cartoon.

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1754, Franklin publishes Join or Die Cartoon.

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Join, or Die was a political cartoon and woodcut created by Benjamin Franklin in 1754. It was designed to unite the American colonies against the French and their Native allies at the start of the French and Indian War. It is thought to be the first political cartoon that advocated unification of the colonies.

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In 1757, Franklin goes to England as a colonial representative.

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In 1757, Franklin goes to England as a colonial representative.

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In 1757, Franklin traveled to London as a representative of the Pennsylvania Assembly, to which he was elected in 1751. Over several years, he worked to settle a tax dispute and other issues involving descendants of William Penn (1644-1718), the owners of the colony of Pennsylvania.

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1757, Street lighting was first introduced in the United States by Benjamin Franklin.

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1757, Street lighting was first introduced in the United States by Benjamin Franklin.

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1757: Street lighting was first introduced in the United States by Benjamin Franklin who iterated on the glass globes used in London with his own version that was eventually approved by the Pennsylvania Assembly circa 1757.

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1761, Franklin completed his glass armonica.

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1761, Franklin completed his glass armonica.

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Ben Franklin completed his glass armonica in 1761. (Its name is derived from the Italian word for harmony.) He didn't simply refine the idea of musical glasses, which were played much like children at the dinner table play them today, with notes being determined by the amount of water in the glass.

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1768, Franklin wages press crusade in London on behalf of colonies, Prints maps showing the Gulf Stream, based on his own temperature readings and observations.

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1768, Franklin wages press crusade in London on behalf of colonies, Prints maps showing the Gulf Stream, based on his own temperature readings and observations.

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Benjamin Franklin was the first person to chart the Gulf Stream. Alexander Agassiz, a preeminent oceanographer of the 19th century, attributed the first scientific basis for exploring the Gulf Stream to American statesman Benjamin Franklin.

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In 1775, Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress. which Proposes the first articles of Confederation.

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In 1775, Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress. which Proposes the first articles of Confederation.

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Benjamin Franklin's Proposed Plan of Confederation, 1775
Shortly after the revolutionary war began at Concord and Lexington, Benjamin Franklin submitted this plan for a united colonial confederation or American republic to the Continental Congress on July 21, 1775.

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In 1776, Franklin helps to draft the Declaration of Independence.

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In 1776, Franklin helps to draft the Declaration of Independence.

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In June 1776 a motion was made in Congress for a Declaration of Independence. Franklin was part of the five-member committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, other members were John Adams of Massachusetts, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Roger Sherman of Connecticut.

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In 1778, Franklin negotiates a treaty of commerce with France.

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In 1778, Franklin negotiates a treaty of commerce with France.

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On February 6, 1778, France and the fledgling United States of America signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance in Paris, France with Franklin's help. The Treaty of Amity and Commerce recognized the United States as an independent nation and promoted trade between France and the United States.

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Benjamin Franklin invented “bifocals” and assumed that meant “glasses.” While Franklin did indeed invent bifocals in 1779, he did not actually invent glasses themselves – he merely created a version with multiple lenses that could help people with more more vision problems.

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Benjamin Franklin | The Invention of Bifocal Lenses | The History of Optometry

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1787, Franklin was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

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1787, Franklin was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention.

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In 1787, he was a Pennsylvania delegate to the Constitutional Convention. (The 81-year-old Franklin was the convention's oldest delegate.) At the end of the convention, in September 1787, he urged his fellow delegates to support the heavily debated new document.

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Benjamin Franklin dies in Pennsylvania on April 17, 1790.

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Benjamin Franklin dies in Pennsylvania on April 17, 1790.

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Benjamin Franklin was the only Founding Father to have signed all three documents that freed America from Britain, the Declaration of Independence, The Treaty of Paris and the United States Constitution. He convinced the French to financially help America against Britain during the American Revolutionary War.