Benjamin Franklin, one of the most important Americans in history, did scientific work before 1790. He had a large impact on America as well as the rest of the world. Europe played a big part of his career because the influences he felt from Europe help him develop and work in science.Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston in 1706 into a family of ten children and to a soap and candle maker. Although Ben had some formal education, he was primarily self-taught. At the age of ten, he served an apprenticeship for his father before going on to serve as an apprentice for the New England Courant. This is where he first published his works. (DOSB,129)There were both influences from Europe and America I his work. Ben Franklin traveled to Europe many times. He sailed to London on November 5,1724 and arrived in London on December 24,1724. While he was here he visited many people and this would play a large influence on his life. In Europe there were a lot more people with the knowledge and interest that Franklin had and this created more will for Franklin to study science. This is possibly thought to be the spark of his science interest while he was in London. (ANB,383)This was the beginning of many awards in his experiments to come. He was elected to the Royal Society on May 29, 1756. This is probably one of the most influential factors in his work and this is one way that his work was seen by people all over Europe and other parts of the world. Members of the Royal Society had their scientific works published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. (DOSB,129)Some of Franklins first works were studying electricity in the 1740s and this was his most important work that he performed. Much of his work was based upon modifying Newtons theories of electricity. Two gentlemen influenced him in electricity, Adam Spencer in Boston and Philadelphia and Peter Collinson of London. Some of the first experiments that Franklin d...
