Ben Franklin: Citizen Scientist

Yes, Benjamin Franklin was a founding father of the United States, helped draft the Declaration of Independence and was the first Postmaster General. But he was also an energetic citizen scientist (even though the word "scientist" didn't yet exist). He studied electricity, the Gulf Stream, refrigeration and meteorology, and he published his research. He even conducted experiments on using electricity to cook turkeys! Michael Madeja is Director of Education at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia, a society founded by Franklin himself. In this special "minisode" of the SciStarter podcast, Madeja discusses some of Franklin's achievements and corrects some misconceptions about one of America's founding "citizen scientists."