Who they were
Rising from a Boston printing apprenticeship, Franklin built a successful publishing career and pursued science and civic reform in Philadelphia. His experiments established that lightning is electrical.
What they did
He helped draft the Declaration of Independence and, as envoy to France, secured the alliance that proved decisive in the Revolutionary War. He later helped negotiate the peace and shape the Constitution.
Legacy
He embodied the practical, self-improving ideal of the American Enlightenment. His science, civic institutions, and diplomacy left a lasting mark on the nation and on the study of electricity.