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Editorial Review Product Description
“Dray captures the genius and ingenuity of Franklin’s scientific thinking and then does something even more fascinating: He shows how science shaped his diplomacy, politics, and Enlightenment philosophy.”
–Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Today we think of Benjamin Franklin as a founder of American independence who also dabbled in science. But in Franklin’s day, the era of Enlightenment, long before he was an eminent statesman, he was famous for his revolutionary scientific work. Pulitzer Prize finalist Philip Dray uses the evolution of Franklin’s scientific curiosity and empirical thinking as a metaphor for America’s struggle to establish its fundamental values. He recounts how Franklin unlocked one of the greatest natural mysteries of his day, the seemingly unknowable powers of lightning and electricity. Rich in historical detail and based on numerous primary sources, Stealing God’s Thunder is a fascinating original look at one of our most beloved and complex founding fathers. ... Read more Customer Reviews (10) 
Ben
One of the best books I have ever read and I recommend it.The book came out clean and prompt.Thanks!
Patents and Franklin
A recently published book may be of some interest to the intellectual property community."Stealing God's Thunder" details the history of Benjamin Franklin's invention of the lightning rod, and goes on to sketch Ben's role in the invention of the United States' system of government.
In a few places, the book touches on subjects which are of particular interest to the intellectual property professional.
Eschewing a patent, Franklin published a complete description of his lightning rod invention in "Poor Richard's Almanac" in November 1753.Much to our delight, the author includes the entire text of the article in his book, on page 91.The Poor Richard article is entitled, "How to Secure Houses, etc., from Lightning."
In his "Epilogue," the author makes the following statement:
"Benjamin Franklin's refusal to patent his `instrument so new' likely contributed to the competitive free-for-all that began to characterize lightening rod design, manufacture,and sales within a few decades of his death."
This is so wrong on so many levels I hardly know where to begin.Dray seems to say that because Franklin did not obtain a patent on his invention, the market forces did not apply to Franklin's invention.Why is this the case?Also, why "a few decades" when a patent's term was generally limited at the time to 14 years.And what does his death have do with it when the rod was published in 1753 and Franklin lived until 1790?
However, Dray does not confine himself to the lightning rod.He also discusses the invention of the famous "Franklin stove."In discussing the stove the author describes Franklin's philosophy toward patents:"As he would with all his inventions, Franklin, although he stood to profit from the sales of the stove, did not apply for a patent.He believed that products of the human imagination belonged to no one person, and should be shared by all."
In this we are reminded of the comments of Rosalyn Yalow, a physicist who, together with Soloman A. Berson, a physician, developed radioimmunassay (RIA).On receiving the Nobel Prize, Yalow said, "In my day scientists did not always think of things as being patentable.We made a scientific discovery.Once it was published it was open to the world."Fortunately, today's scientists may take advantage of the statutory invention
Registration (SIR). For further details, see, "Rosalyn Yalow's Patent and H.R. 1127" in "The Law Works," January, 1996, at page 17 (the predecessor to the present publication.)
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One further aspect of the book may be of particular interest to the intellectual property community, and that is the aspect of the patents of the colonies and the States.Remember, Franklin's rod was published in 1753 and the United States Constitution was not ratified until 1789 and the first federal patent law was not enacted until 1790.As Dray notes about Franklin's refusal to patent his inventions, on page 37 "Besides its commendable altruism, this philosophy probably saved him from a tremendous amount of aggravation.Anyone seeking to patent a new mechanical innovation in the New World would need to secure it in each colony individually..."
This is further complicated by the fact that after the Revolution and before the adoption of the Constitution the government took the form of the Confederation, turning the colonies into States.A number of patents were issued both by the colonies and the States. Some examples of these appear in the Twelfth Census of the United States in 1900 Vol. X, Part IV, page 75 and is quoted in Deller's Walker on Patent's 2nd Ed at pages 53 through 58:
Year Inventor Invention Term
CONNECTICUT
1717 Edward Hinman Making molasses from cornstalks 10 years
1783 Benjamin Hanks Self-winding clock 14 years
NEW YORK
1787 John Fitch Steam Boat
NEW HAMPSHIRE
1786 Benj. Dearborn Printing Press 14 years
1789 Oliver Evans Elevator 7 years
PENNSYLVANIA
1717 Thomas Masters Cleaning, curing, and refining Indian corn 14 years
MARYLAND
1787 Oliver Evans Steam Carriage 14 years
In conclusion, "Stealing God's Thunder" is an interesting light read for the technically and historically minded intellectual property professional.
Benjamin Franklin, the scientist
Stealing God's Thunder by Philip Dray is extremely well-written.Unlike many biographies of Franklin, it focuses on his science first and his role as a founding father second.This way of characterizing Franklin's life was more interesting than writing about him as a politician first and scientist second.What is most interesting is the influence that Franklin's science had on his politics and on his philosophy.Dray wrote about complex subjects without ever becoming too wordy and overall the book was extremely readable.
Some of Franklin's most interesting work was put into small inventions rather than large ideas.Franklin said that the armonica, a device that spun glass to make music, was his favorite invention.Although Franklin did important work linking lightning and electricity, and as a proponent of lightning rods, his small inventions were extremely interesting as well.Franklin learned a great deal about electricity during his life and this allowed the next generation of scientists to build on his discoveries.He also challenged the views of Christianity, while still believing in God and remaining religious throughout his life.Franklin believed in the power of reason and he thought that this did not conflict with belief in God.Franklin is one of the most interesting characters of the American Revolution and the Enlightenment.
A Patent Lawyer Speaks
I am a registered patent agent and a retired patent attorney, so this review is slanted from the view of the patent professional. "Stealing God's Thunder" details the history of Benjamin Franklin's invention of the lightning rod, and goes on to sketch Ben's role in the invention of the United States' system of government.
In a few places, the book touches on subjects which are of particular interest to the intellectual property professional.
Eschewing a patent, Franklin published a complete description of his lightning rod invention in "Poor Richard's Almanac" in November 1753.Much to our delight, the author includes the entire text of the article in his book, on page 91.The Poor Richard article is entitled, "How to Secure Houses, etc., from Lightning."
Further, in his "Epilogue," the author makes the following statement: "Benjamin Franklin's refusal to patent his `instrument so new' likely contributed to the competitive free-for-all that began to characterize lightening rod design, manufacture,and sales within a few decades of his death."
This is so wrong on so many levels I hardly know where to begin.Dray seems to say that because Franklin did not obtain a patent on his invention, the market forces did not apply to Franklin's invention.Why is this the case?Also, why "a few decades" when a patent's term was generally limited at the time to 14 years.You will see evidence of this later on in the review.And what does his death have do with it when the rod was published in 1753 and Franklin lived until 1790?
However, Dray does not confine himself to the lightning rod.He also discusses the invention of the famous "Franklin stove," inter alia.In discussing the stove the author describes Franklin's philosophy toward patents:"As he would with all his inventions, Franklin, although he stood to profit from the sales of the stove, did not apply for a patent.He believed that products of the human imagination belonged to no one person, and should be shared by all."
In this we are reminded of the comments of Rosalyn Yalow, a physicist who, together with Soloman A. Berson, a physician, developed radioimmunassay (RIA).On receiving the Nobel Prize, Yalow said, "In my day scientists did not always think of things as being patentable.We made a scientific discovery.Once it was published it was open to the world."Fortunately, today's scientists may take advantage of the Statutory Invention
Registration (SIR). For further details, see, "Rosalyn Yalow's Patent and H.R. 1127" in "The Law Works," January, 1996, at page 17.
One further aspect of the book may be of particular interest to the intellectual property community, and that is the aspect of the patents of the colonies and the States.Remember, Franklin's rod was published in 1753 and the United States Constitution was not ratified until 1789 and the first federal patent law was not enacted until 1790.As Dray notes about Franklin's refusal to patent his inventions, on page 37 "Besides its commendable altruism, this philosophy probably saved him from a tremendous amount of aggravation.Anyone seeking to patent a new mechanical innovation in the New World would need to secure it in each colony individually..."
This is further complicated by the fact that after the Revolution and before the adoption of the Constitution the government took the form of the Confederation, turning the colonies into States.A number of patents were issued both by the colonies and the States. Some examples of these appear in the Twelfth Census of the United States in 1900 Vol. X, Part IV, page 75 and is quoted in Deller's Walker on Patent's 2nd Ed at pages 53 through 58:
Year Inventor Invention Term
CONNECTICUT
1717 Edward Hinman Making molasses from cornstalks 10 years
1783 Benjamin Hanks Self-winding clock 14 years
NEW YORK
1787 John Fitch Steam Boat
NEW HAMPSHIRE
1786 Benj. Dearborn Printing Press 14 years
1789 Oliver Evans Elevator 7 years
PENNSYLVANIA
1717 Thomas Masters Cleaning, curing, and refining Indian corn 14 years
MARYLAND
1787 Oliver Evans Steam Carriage 14 years
In conclusion, "Stealing God's Thunder" is an interesting light read for the technically and historically minded intellectual property professional.
Ben Franklin's Favorite Invention, the Armonica.
From 1760 to 1766, Ben Franklin lived in England as a gentleman scholar with his son, William, who studied law.While there, he invented "a homespun musical instrument" he called 'armonica.' which he always claimed to be his favorite invention.It was a stand-alone contraption in which glass disks were turned in a treadle and rubbed gently with the performer's fingers, which he kept moistened with a damp sponge."The musical method of rubbing fingers on the rims of glasses or bowls filled with water appeared in Europe in the late Middle Ages; Galileo, himself the son of a musician, experimented with it."
This era also produced the piano.The armonica could be the primitive precursor to the organ (a drawing of which is shown in this book); it had such soft, subtle tones it could not compete with the piano and was never used in an orchestra."Its haunting tone and deep sustain did have a numbing effect on listeners, so much so that it was later used by Franz Mesmer and other healers to put patients into a trance."Mozart wrote an armonica composition called "Adagio for Glass Harmonica, Flute, Oboe, Viola and Cello' which he even performed in Vienna, playing the Viola.Franklin wrote one musical composition, "Quartet in F Major" (also known as "The Open String Quarter") for the violin.
He was a music enthusiast with a music room at his Philadelphia home which held his daughter's harpsichord."He and Sally played duets [he on the armonica], some classical pieces, but mostly the Scottish folk ballads Franklin liked."Thousands of armonicas were built and sold, but its popularity was of brief duration.Thomas Penn, one of William Penn's sons who had control over the state of Pennsylvania at that time, was heard to complain that Franklin was wasting his time on "philosophical matters and musical performances on glasses."
Not only was he famous for his "revolutionary scientific work, especially his experiments with lightning rods and electricity," he stirred up a controvrsy about evolution."In Franklin's time, the study of the earth's oldest living things, later known as paleontology, was just emerging as an area of scientific inquiry" when he became involved in 1764 concerning a salt marsh called Big Bone Lick on the Ohio River, forty miles south of present-day Cincinnati.Bones were found there of "mastodons, elephant-like creatures with heavy coats and huge upward-curving tusks that are said to have appeared anywhere between about 20 million and 3.5 million years ago, and survived until as recently as 10,000 years ago."This new curiosity raised the question of extinction, "the most disturbing discovery which upset even the "Newtonian universe."
He explains the legacy of the mythical creatures, the cyclops and the unicorn.'The cyclops' solitary eye was suggested by the gaping proboscis cavity of extinct dwarf elephants; the unicorn legend arose from the fossilized tusks of elephants and rhinoceroses, which, prized for their magical and medicinal virtues, were traded both by the ancients and in medieval Europe."
Franklin was involved in this scientific debate "that was one of the most stimulating of the Enlightenment" the question of the age of earth and of living things, including man.Like the arguments about lightning rods "presumption," this inquiry challenged long-received ideas about the relationship between God and man, and went so far as to call into question the biblical version of Genesis and Creation."Extinction was a heavy concept "and to pursue it brought one square against not only prevailing views of God's kingdom but the accepted wisdom about the age of earth itself."
Franklin published in his 'Poor Richard's Almanac' "some excerpts from a popular chronology of the history of commerce that dated the [Biblical] Flood at 2348 B.C.,...likely reprinted the material chiefly for its comical fastidiousness about a number of pseudo-momentous dates in human history, such as the invention of playing cards (1391) and the first silk stockings worn by a king (1547).
In 1712, Cotton Mather reported to the Royal Society that a tooth weighing more than four pounds and a thigh bone seventeen feet in length had been unearthed near Albany, New York; he asssumed that the remains were those of a giant man who had perished in the Great Flood.African slaves in America were likely the first to point out that the bones unearthed at sites in New York and Virginia resembled those of the elephant."In the nineteenth century Georges Cuvier would lay the formal groundwork for paleontology, and Charles Darwin's therories of evolution and natural selection."America's first museum of fossils and paleontological curiosities, including mastodon relics, would be operated by the Philadelphia artist Charles Willson Peale, in conjunction with the American Philosophical Society."
In 1774, Franklin was publicly accused of revealing to his contacts in Boston that "Britain would likely need to dispatch troops to North America" and was stripped of his office of postmaster general of the colonies.His reputation tarnished, and his usefulness in London, now weakened, he sailed home in March 1775.
In 1806, Thomas Jefferson (then President of the United States), "upon the return of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark from exploring the Louisiana Territory ...dispatched Clark to Big Bone Lick to collect additional relics, which he then stored in the East Room of the White House."
Philip Dray previously wrote the multi-award winning AT THE HANDS OF PERSONS UNKNOWN: THE LYNCHING OF BLACK AMERICA which also was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
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not easy to read