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Benjamin Franklin's Science by I. Bernard Cohen (1996, Trade Paperback)

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About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherHarvard University Press

ISBN-100674066596

ISBN-139780674066595

eBay Product ID (ePID)829859

Product Key Features

Number of Pages288 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameBenjamin Franklin's Science

Publication Year1996

SubjectWorld, History, Historical

TypeTextbook

AuthorI. Bernard Cohen

Subject AreaScience, Biography & Autobiography, History

FormatTrade Paperback

Dimensions

Item Height0.6 in

Item Weight15.3 Oz

Item Length9.2 in

Item Width6.6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

Dewey Edition20

ReviewsCohen provides not only a lucid analysis of Franklin's ideas but also a sense of the intellectual context...Cohen's position as a leading historian of American science has found eloquent expression in this engaging and valuable book., Reminds us that being the New World's foremost scientist was no easy task. The inventor of the lightning rod had to contend with a superstitious age...Resisting the urge of many scholars to allow their specialties to distort the subject, Cohen shows us Franklin's science as related to the other characteristics of a cheerily curious mind at work in yeasty times.

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal509.2

Table Of ContentForeword by Brooke Hindle Preface Introduction Franklin's Scientific Style How Practical Was Franklin's Science? The Mysterious "Dr. Spence" Collinson's Gift and the New German Experiments The Kite, the Sentry Box, and the Lightning Rod Father Divi and the First European Lightning Rod (with Robert Schofield) Prejudice against the Introduction of Lightning Rods Heat and Color The Pennsylvania Hospital The Transit of Mercury Faraday and the "Newborn Baby" Supplement: The Franklin Stove (Samuel J. Edgerton, Jr.) Notes Index

SynopsisBenjamin Franklin is well known to most of us, yet his fundamental and wide-ranging contributions to science are still not adequately understood. Until now he has usually been incorrectly regarded as a practical inventor and tinkerer rather than a scientific thinker. He was elected to membership in the elite Royal Society because his experiments and original theory of electricity had made a science of that new subject. His popular fame came from his two lightning experiments--the sentry-box experiment and the later and more famous experiment of the kite--which confirmed his theoretical speculations about the identity of electricity and provided a basis for the practical invention of the lightning rod. Franklin advanced the eighteenth-century understanding of all phenomena of electricity and provided a model for experimental science in general. I. Bernard Cohen, an eminent historian of science and the principal elucidator of Franklin's scientific work, examines his activities in fields ranging from heat to astronomy. He provides masterful accounts of the theoretical background of Franklin's science (especially his study of Newton), the experiments he performed, and their influence throughout Europe as well as the United States. Cohen emphasizes that Franklin's political and diplomatic career cannot be understood apart from his scientific activities, which established his reputation and brought him into contact with leaders of British and European society. A supplement by Samuel J. Edgerton considers Franklin's attempts to improve the design of heating stoves, another practical application that arose from theoretical interests. This volume will be valuable to all readers wanting to learn more about Franklin and to gain a deeper appreciation of the development of science in America., Cohen examines Franklin's scientific activities in fields ranging from heat to astronomy, providing masterly accounts of the theoretical background of Franklin's science (especially his study of Newton), the experiments he performed, and their influence throughout Europe and the United States., Benjamin Franklin is well known to most of us, yet his fundamental and wide-ranging contributions to science are still not adequately understood. Until now he has usually been incorrectly regarded as a practical inventor and tinkerer rather than a scientific thinker. He was elected to membership in the elite Royal Society because his experiments and original theory of electricity had made a science of that new subject. His popular fame came from his two lightning experiments-the sentry-box experiment and the later and more famous experiment of the kite-which confirmed his theoretical speculations about the identity of electricity and provided a basis for the practical invention of the lightning rod. Franklin advanced the eighteenth-century understanding of all phenomena of electricity and provided a model for experimental science in general. I. Bernard Cohen, an eminent historian of science and the principal elucidator of Franklin's scientific work, examines his activities in fields ranging from heat to astronomy. He provides masterful accounts of the theoretical background of Franklin's science (especially his study of Newton), the experiments he performed, and their influence throughout Europe as well as the United States. Cohen emphasizes that Franklin's political and diplomatic career cannot be understood apart from his scientific activities, which established his reputation and brought him into contact with leaders of British and European society. A supplement by Samuel J. Edgerton considers Franklin's attempts to improve the design of heating stoves, another practical application that arose from theoretical interests. This volume will be valuable to all readers wanting to learn more about Franklin and to gain a deeper appreciation of the development of science in America.