Abstract
Franklin was born in America in the city of Boston, in 1706, and died when he was 84 years old. His activity covered nearly the whole of the eighteenth century and was closely associated with the rapid development of natural and social sciences which was underway at that time. This was an epoch of enlightenment, the epoch that preceded the period of radical social upheavals in Europe.
He snatched the lightning from the heavens, the scepter from tyrants.
(Turgot on Franklin)
[Turgot, quoting Manilius, said of Franklin: “Eripuit caelo fulmen sceptrumque tyrannis”. For source, and probable variant due to Turgot, see Carl van Doren, Benjamin Franklin, New York, Viking Press, 1938, p. 606.]
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© 1980 D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
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Kapitza, P.L. (1980). The Scientific Activity of Benjamin Franklin. In: Experiment, Theory, Practice. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science, vol 46. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8977-1_33
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-8977-1_33
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