Benjamin Franklin's Kite 🪁⚡

About this episode

This episode explores Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment and its implications in the history of electricity.

Benjamin Franklin’s legendary ‘kite experiment’ supposedly took place on 10th June, 1752, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the traditional account, the future Founding Father flew a kite fitted with a metal key into a storm cloud to prove that it contained electricity, leading to the creation of the lightning rod ⚡ Historians, however, point out there is no detailed contemporary record proving that events unfolded exactly as later retellings claimed, and, in fact, Franklin never explicitly stated in print that he had personally carried out the dramatic version of the experiment. Perhaps the iconic image survives partly because, like Newton’s falling apple, it captures a complicated scientific idea in a single memorable scene. Regardless, lightning rods soon spread across Europe and North America, and the kite story is just one chapter in Franklin’s remarkably varied life. Alongside his scientific investigations, he worked as a printer, helped establish one of America’s first volunteer fire brigades, invented bifocal spectacles, and created the glass armonica, a bizarre musical instrument whose sound fascinated composers including Mozart and Beethoven. In this episode…

People in this episode

Hosts: Arion, Rebecca, Olly

Topics covered

• Benjamin Franklin
• kite experiment
• electricity
• lightning rod
• historical accounts
• scientific discoveries

Keywords

• kite experiment
• Benjamin Franklin
• electricity
• lightning rod
• historical accuracy
• scientific contributions

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: King George III

Books & works: glass armonica

Places: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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