Benjamin Franklin

noun

printer whose success as an author led him to take up politics; he helped draw up the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; he played a major role in the American Revolution and negotiated French support for the colonists; as a scientist he is remembered particularly for his research in electricity (1706-1790)

• Syn: ↑Franklin

• Instance Hypernyms: ↑printer, ↑pressman, ↑writer, ↑author, ↑American Revolutionary leader, ↑scientist

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Benjamin Franklin [Benjamin Franklin]

(1706–90) one of America’s most famous Founding Fathers. He was a wise and clever political leader, writer and ↑printer, and a scientist who invented many things. Franklin helped to write the ↑Declaration of Independence, which he signed, and later the American Constitution. In 1776 he went to France and persuaded the French to send money and military forces for the ↑American Revolution. Franklin proved that ↑lightning is electricity by flying a ↑kite in a storm, and his inventions included the Franklin Stove. He also published ↑Poor Richard's Almanack (1732–57). In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes. Benjamin Franklin