Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)

This is the fourth edition of Benjamin Franklin’s groundbreaking work on electricity, in which he details the fact that lightning is an electrical phenomenon. Franklin’s famous experiment demonstrated that electricity could be conducted from a kite to its string, and eventually to a Leyden jar to store an electric charge where sparks were created. Such an experiment required the use of an open-air laboratory.

Bequest of Eckley Brinton Coxe