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• n  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)

• Franklin
• Benjamin Franklin

News & Articles

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• Terrorists win if we sacrifice privacy, freedom
  In his “Historical Review of Pennsylvania” (1759), Benjamin Franklin argued that “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety.”
  June 12, 2013 - MyCentralJersey.com
• International Response to NSA: WTF, America?
  In a relatively scathing op-ed, a high-ranking government official let loose on the National Security Agency's data-mining program: "The more a society monitors, controls, and observes its citizens, the less free it is." Like many politicians who find themselves talking the security-privacy trade-off, she cited Benjamin Franklin. The thing is, the author isn't American. She's the German Justice ...
  June 12, 2013 - National Journal via Yahoo! News
• Exactly 261 Years Ago, Ben Franklin Flew a Kite in a Lightning Storm
  Benjamin Franklin first shocked himself in 1746, while conducting experiments on electricity with found objects from around his house. Six years later and exactly 261 years ago today, the founding father flew a kite attached to a key and a silk ribbon in a thunderstorm and effectively trapped lightning in a jar. The experiment is now seen as a watershed moment in mankind's question to channel a ...
  June 10, 2013 - Gizmodo