One day when class was learning about the intelligent two some known as Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin, something started to stir up brain. Of the two who was the first to have ever invented or discover electricity. At first some say it was Benjamin Franklin who invented electricity, for he was the one who is greatly known for his kite flying adventure. He was even a big fan of lightning when he was a kid, this which pushed him into his flying a kite in a storm. The research of the two starts with the biography of the man who some said would be true guessed to be true, Benjamin Franklin the great inventor/ scientist. According to his biography he was a very intelligent man for he made the first bifocals which he designed by combining two glasses. He was also one of the many few who signed the great document of the USA. Which they, the founding fathers, called the Declaration of Independence which in my eyes was one of the greatest things he has ever done.
Looking into what else he was that before being a founding father or anything unknown to some. In a biography he appears to be the apprentice printer for his brother James who opened and started, The New England Courant, which was the first “newspaper” in Boston. He also wanted to write some stuff for the paper but be in an apprentice printer so he couldn’t write for the paper. So instead he got sneaky and began to letters to the newspaper under a fake name who he described as a female widow named, Silence Dogood. Soon his letters were being printed into the newspaper for all to see, they were a smashing hit. After he made 16 letters to the newspaper he finally confessed that it was him who was writing the letters not a widow. His brother was jealous of Ben and gave him a scolding. While James’ friends thought Ben was very funny, so he got a lot of attention from his work group.
Before long the Franklins found themselves at odds with Boston's powerful Puritan preachers, the Mathers. Smallpox being a very deadly disease in those times, and the Mathers supported inoculation (or vaccination for those who didn’t know what inoculation means); the Franklins' believed that inoculation only made people sicker. While most Bostonians agreed with the Franklins, they did not like the way James made fun of the Priests during the debate. Ultimately, James was thrown in jail for his views and ideas of the Priests, and Benjamin was left to run the paper for several issues. Back then Ben had a lot of problems at home so he decided to run away. However back then running away was illegal. In early America, everyone had to have a place in society and if you were a runaway you did not fit in, anywhere. Regardless Ben took a boat to New York where he hoped to find work as a printer. He got there and he didn't find anywhere he could go.
He then walked across New Jersey, finally arriving in Philadelphia by riding a boat. After disembarking, he used the last of his money to buy some rolls. He was wet, unorganized, and a complete mess. When his future wife, Deborah Read, saw him on that day (October, 6, 1723), she only thought that he was odd-looking, never dreaming that seven years later they would be married. Franklin found work as an apprentice printer for another company. He did very well at his job; he actually did so well that the governor of Pennsylvania promised to set him up in business for himself if young Franklin would just go to London to buy fonts and printing equipment. Franklin did go to London, but the governor had actually lied and on his promise and Benjamin was forced to spend several months in England doing print work.
Benjamin had been living with the Read family before he left for London. Deborah Read, the very same girl who had seen young Benjamin arrive in Philadelphia, started talking marriage, with the young printer. Young Ben did not think he was ready for marriage but when he left Deborah had married another man. Once Ben was finally able to return to Philadelphia he decided to start working to keep up a shop but it was a fail so he decided to go back to original work and worked as a printer again. His newspaper printing business was thriving between the 1730s and 1740s. He also started making a kind of franchise printing partnership in other cities. By 1749 he retired from business and started concentrating on science, experiments, and inventions. This was nothing new to Franklin by 1743 he had already invented a heat-efficient stove which he had called the Franklin stove which he decided to help warm houses efficiently. As the stove was invented to help improve society, he refused to take out a patent. So his invention could be copied and then used by other people who made it a bit of a danger for his stove.
In the early 1750's he turned to the study of electricity. His observations, including his kite experiment which verified the nature of electricity and lightning brought Franklin international fame. This got Ben to perform his historic kite flight that almost everyone who has taken US history or world history even, knows. In the end Ben died and on April 17, 1790 at the age of 84. 20,000 people attended the funeral of the man who was called, "the harmonious human multitude."
As of recent discovery, which most people wouldn’t believe, within this paper is the evidence that shows that Ben Franklin did not discover electricity. He couldn’t even harness it, what he did discover was the lightning rod from his little kite test. After finding this out most people would stop, while others would continue. Finished with Ben Franklin and his past, this started the research about the second man in the list of sources. The one who had also been guessed to have discovered electricity, Thomas Edison. The man who invented the light bulb and started the world off in discovery of electricity.
After looking at the beginning section of Thomas Edison’s biography it started to make plenty of sense on how he had discovered electricity. According to the biography he was a very intelligent man for he made the phonograph, an adapted phonograph that records sound, a speaker that amplifies telephone calls, and finally he gave us the wonder of a special movie apparatus. With all of these great inventions he only needed one thing that was even said on Ben Franklin’s biography. All Edison needed was electricity which he discovered about a hundred and twenty years after Ben Franklin died. This would make many people wonder, why didn’t Ben Franklin discover electricity? There is enough info to say that he did discover it before Edison but in the end he never did. Because of two reasons in this case, and their point of view. Which would also make sense to you and other people. One, he was never interested in electricity he was interested in lightning which helped him invent the lightning rod. Two, for in his time period there was nothing he could use to the right equipment to create or obtain the shocking power of it, it being electricity or lightning.
In hindsight Ben couldn’t get the lightning either for he only could redirect the lightning with his lightning rod invention. Only Thomas Edison could control it with his knowledge and inventions that he had discovered way after Ben Franklin died. Thomas Edison had spent his time making more and more inventions until he discovered the powerful charge of electricity.