40 Conway Zirkle, “Natural Selection before the Origin of Species,” APS Proceedings 84 (1941), 71–123; Zirkle, “Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Malthus and the United States Census,” Isis 48 (1957), esp. 59–60, 60n.
41 Mary Jo Nye, Before Big Science: The Pursuit of Modern Chemistr y and Physics, 1800–1940 (Cambridge, Mass., 1996), chaps. 1–4.
42 Gordon John Steele, A Thread across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable (New York, 2002); Williams, Matthew Fontaine Maury, 225–257, quotations on p. 250; Mulford, “Figuring Benjamin Franklin,” 431.
43 Peter Louis Galison, Einstein’s Clocks, Poincaré’s Maps : Empires of Time (New York, 2003).
44 Nye, Before Big Science, chap. 6, 201–211; Daniel J. Kevles, The Physicists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America (Cambridge, Mass., 1987), chaps. 11 and 15.
45 Alan J. Friedman and Carol C. Donley, Einstein as Myth and Muse (Cambridge, 1985), chaps. 1 and 4.
46 Kevles, Physicists, chaps. 8–10, 19–21; Peter Galison and Bruce Hevly, eds., Big Science: The Growth of Large-Scale Research (Palo Alto, Calif., 1992); Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic Bomb (New York, 1986).
47 Robert Jungk, Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, trans. James Cleugh (New York, 1958), esp. 178–179, 184–186, 203–205, 233–235; Friedman and Donley, Einstein as Myth and Muse, 168–178.
48 Deacon, Scientists and the Sea, 342, 356–357, 375–376, 382; Gary E. Weir, “Fashioning Naval Oceanography: Columbus O’Donnell Iselin and American Preparation for War, 1940–1941,” in The Machine in Neptune’s Garden: Historical Perspectives on Technology and the Marine Environment, ed. Helen M. Rozwadowski and David K. van Keuren (Sagamore Beach, Mass., 2004), 65–95.
49 Edward Wenk Jr., The Politics of the Ocean (Seattle, 1972).
50 Kevles, Physicists, 391.
51 Friedman and Donley, Einstein as Myth and Muse, esp. chaps. 4 and 6.
52 National Science Foundation, Science and Engineering Indicators 2000, available at http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind00 and the 2004 update at www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind04, accessed on Dec. 21, 2005.
53 W. S. Broecker, “Thermohaline Circulation, the Achilles’ Heel of Our Climate System: Will Man-Made CO2 Upset the Current Balance,” Science 278, no. 5343 (1997), 1582–1588; B. Dickson et al., “Rapid Freshening of the Deep North Atlantic Ocean over the Past Four Decades,” Nature 416 (2002), 832–837; Brian Fagan, The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300–1850 (New York, 2000), pt. 4; Rachel Carson, The Sea around Us, special ed. (New York, 1989), 167–184.
54 Timothy Ferris, Seeing in the Dark: How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril (New York, 2002).
55 Roderick Cave and Geoffrey Wakeman, Typographia Naturalis (Wymondham, UK, 1967), 12–14; Eric P. Newman, “Nature Printing on Colonial and Continental Currency,” Numismatist 77 (1964), 147–154.
56 Newman, “Nature Printing,” 299–306, 457–465, 613–623; Colden cited in PBF, 2:386n; Cave and Wakeman, Typographia Naturalis, 14.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“I should be ungrateful,” wrote Poor Richard (alias Benjamin Franklin) in 1735, “if I did not take every Opportunity of expressing my Gratitude; for ingratum si dixeris, omnia dixeris.” And so I give “my most humble and hearty Thanks” to the following organizations and individuals:
For access to archives and help with research there, the American Philosophical Society (particularly Roy Goodman and Valerie-Anne Lutz); the Papers of Benjamin Franklin, Yale University (especially Ellen Cohn, the expert); the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, England; the National Archives, London; the Post Office Archives, London; and the Houghton Library and Map Collection, Harvard University.
For providing critical venues at which I presented parts of this project, the Forum on European Expansion and Global Interaction, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the International Society for Intellectual History, the Johns Hopkins University, and the McNeil Center for Early American Studies.
For their superb work as research assistants, Joseph Adelman, Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, and James Fichter.
For giving me the incredible opportunity to see the Gulf Stream the way Franklin did—from a tall ship—the Sea Education Association of Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
For her faith that an inchoate idea about Franklin could be turned into a book manuscript, Zoe Pagnamenta.
For her careful guidance, which made a manuscript on Franklin into a book about him, Lara Heimert.
For their patient assistance with the many technicalities that now go into making a book, Eddie Lee and Christine Marra.
For their valuable help, encouragement, and advice, Alice Walters, Sally Hadden, Norman Fiering, Stella Fitzthomas, Mordechai Feingold, Charles Rosenberg, and Laurel Ulrich.
For reading portions of the manuscript, James Delbourgo, Darrin McMahon, Nathan Perl-Rosenthal, Fredrika Teute, and Matthew Underwood.
For reading the whole manuscript, David Armitage, Bernard Bailyn, Clint Chaplin, Steven Shapin, and Kara Swanson.
For 1,001 pieces of wisdom, David Armitage.
For waiting decades for me to write a book on a topic he was really interested in, Clint Chaplin.
Index
Page numbers in bold indicate figures.
Abortion
Académie Royale des Sciences
Academy of Philadelphia
Adams, George
Adams, John
after American Revolution
Continental Congress
views of Franklin
Addison, Joseph
Aepinus, Franz Ulrich Theodor
Aerial flight
Albany Plan of Union
Alexander, James
Alexander, Robert
All, Isaac
Allhazar, Shedid, Sheik
Almanacs
description
See also specific almanacs
America
comparisons to Europe
following Franklin’s death
militia beginnings
rivers and lakes of
See also British–American tension
American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS)
American Philosophical Society (APS)
American population—Franklin
American Revolution and
British Empire and
“Observations on the Increase of Mankind,”
American Revolution
Seven Years’ War and
loyalism and whalers
Stamp Act and
American Revolution—American Navy
Continental Navy creation
impressment of sailors
need for maps/charts
need for sailors
need of
nepotism and Franklin
privateering and
American Revolution—Franklin
British atrocities list
disillusionment with war
fame in Britain
imprisoned sailors and
peace/reconciliation
prisoner exchange
scientific work and
supernatural aid/fictional inventions and
views on
See also France visit—American Revolution
American Weekly Mercury
“Apology for Printers” (Franklin)
Argo
Aristocracy/inherited status
Armonica (glass armonica)
Arrenberg, Reinier
“Articles of Belief and Acts of Religion” (Franklin)
Asbestos (“Salamander Cotton”)
Astronomy
Atlantic Neptune (DesBarres)
Atlantic Ocean
early names
voyage times to/from England
See also Gulf Stream
Atlantic Pilot, The
Atlantic storms
Franklin’s explanations of
waterspouts/winds
A
tmosphere
circulation of
composition speculations
early ideas on
Aurora borealis (Northern lights)
Australia
Autobiography (Franklin)
Bache, Alexander Dallas (great-grandson)
Bache, Benjamin Franklin (grandson)
Bache, Richard (son-in-law)
Bache, Sarah/“Sally.” See Franklin, Sarah/“Sally” (daughter)
Bacon, Francis
Balloon flights
Banks, Sir Joseph
Banneker, Benjamin
Barbeu-Dubourg, Jacques
Bartram, John
Bartram, William
Baskerville, John
Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustin Caron de
Beccaria, Giambattista
Behn, Aphra
Benezet, Anthony
Bifocal invention/use by Franklin
Bingham, William
Blackbeard (Edward Teach)
Bonifacius: Essays to Do Good (Mather)
Bougainville, Louis Antoine de
Boulton, Matthew
Bowdoin, James
Bowen, Penuel
Boyle, Robert
Boylston, Zabdiel
Bradford, Andrew
Bradford, William
Bray, Dr. Thomas
Breintnall, Joseph
Brillon de Jouy, Anne-Louise Boivin d’Hardancourt
British-American tension
convicted felons and
Stamp Act (1765)
Townshend Duties
tyranny complaints
See also American Revolution
British empire
Asia
Canada
control and
Franklin’s support for
the Pacific
rights issues
See also American Revolution
British Iron Act (1750)
Brownrigg, William
Buckley, Francis
Buffon, Comte de (Georges Leclerc)
Bunker Hill battle
Busy-Body
Bute, Lord
Caelia Shortface
Campanella, Tommaso
Canada
American emissaries/invasion
British empire and
“Canada Pamphlet” (Franklin)
Canal building
Canton, John
Cartesian views. See Descartes-Newton debate
Cartography. See Mapping/cartography
Cavendish, Henry
Chamberlain, Mason
Chambers, Ephraim
“Characters/sorts” in printing
Charles, J.-A.C.
Charlière balloons
Chemistry
See also specific investigators
Chronometers
Church of England
Cicero
“Circulation”
of atmosphere
within human body
common cold and
economy and
electricity and
Hales’ experiments
pulse glasses
See also Gulf Stream
Clare, Martin
Clark, William
Climate
change in
Franklin’s weather/atmosphere studies
volcanoes effects on
Club of Honest Whigs
Cockpit hearing
Coffin, Keziah Folger
Coffins (Franklin’s relatives)
Colden, Cadwallader
background/sciences and
scientific discussions/work with Franklin
Colden, Jane
Coleman, William
College (in Franklin’s time)
Collinson, Peter
background
electricity experiments and
relationship with Franklin
Columbus, Christopher
Common Sense (Paine)
Compendia
See also specific examples
Concord battle
Condorcet, Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas Caritat, Marquis de
Constitutional Convention
Continental Army
Continental Congress
Cook, James
Cool Thoughts on the Present Situation of Public Affairs (Franklin)
Copley Medal and Franklin
Craftsmen
dangers to
Franklin’s relatives as
social status/importance of
trade secrets/mystery of
Currier, Nathaniel
Cushing, Thomas
Cyclopedia (Chambers)
D’Alembert, Jean Le Rond
Dalibard, Jean François
Dampier, William/“Dampier’s Voyages,”
Danforth, Samuel
Dartmouth, Lord (George Legge)
Darwin, Charles
Darwin, Erasmus
Darwin, Robert Waring
Daschkova, Princess Ekaterina Romanovna
Davies, Marianne
Dead Man’s Almanack, The
Deane, Silas
De Brahm, William Gerard
Decision-making system of Franklin
Declaration of Independence
Defoe, Daniel
De Fonte, Bartholomew (hoax)
Deist, Franklin as
Delaware Indians
Delor
Denham, Thomas
DesBarres, Joseph F.W.
Descartes/Cartesianism views
Descartes-Newton debate
Franklin and
gravity/Earth’s axis measurements
matter composition
Description des arts et métiers
Dialogue entre Pasquin & Marforio (Le Roux des Tillets)
Dick, Sir Alexander
Dictionary (Johnson)
Diderot, Denis
Diet and Franklin
Discourse of Winds, Breezes, Storms, Tides, and Currents (Dampier)
Discourse on the Spanish Monarchy (Campanella)
Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain, A (Franklin)
Dixon, C.
Dixon, Jeremiah
Douglass, William
Dr. Bray’s Associates
Earth
formation of
Sun’s distance from
Earthquakes
East India Company
Einstein, Albert
as genius
as icon
work of
Electricity
Aepinus’ experiments in
Canton’s experiments in
“conductor”/”insulator” terms
demonstrations/popularity of
electrical fish
Leyden jar experiments
measuring speed of
“newer” ideas in
“Political Electricity” cartoon
Priestley’s work with
Venus Electrificata trick
Volta’s work
Electricity work by Franklin
Atlantic storms explanation
atmospheric electricity speculations
cloud charges question
as collaboration
defense of
fame/status from
findings from
house as laboratory
indoor experiments
kite experiment
knowledge of matter and
Library Company and
lightning (proposed) experiment
picnic celebration/demonstration
Volta’s challenge to
See also Experiments and Observations on Electricity; Franklin, Benjamin, patrons of
Elémens de la philosophie de Neuton (Voltaire)
Eliot, Jared
Ellis, Henry
Encyclopédie (Diderot and d’Alembert)
Endeavor voyage
English Pilot
“Ephemera, The” (Franklin)
Ephémérides (physiocrats)
Epit
aph, Franklin
E Pluribus Unum
Equilibrium
“balance of power” and Franklin
electrical experiments and
Gulf Stream and
physical/moral equilibrium
Essay Concerning Human Understanding (Locke)
Euler, Leonhard
Evans, Lewis
Every Man His Own Doctor (Tennent)
Experiments and Observations on Electricity (Franklin)
fourth edition
Experiments on Vegetables (Ingenhousz)
Explication of the First Causes of Action in Matter, An; and the Cause of Gravitation (Colden)
Fable of the Bees, or Private Vices Public Benefits, The (Mandeville)
Facts vs. probabilities
Falconer, Nathaniel
Falconer, William
Feke, Robert
Female friends
avoiding scandal
intellectual peers
Fire-place inventions/work
damper
fuel use with
metal stove
pamphlet promoting
reasoning/description
smoky chimneys
Fisher, Edward
Fishing. See Whaling/fishing
Fitch, John
Flatulence
Folger, Abiah. See Franklin, Abiah (mother)
Folger, Timothy
Gulf Stream work
relationship with Franklin
Folgers (Franklin’s relatives)
Fossils
Fothergill, John
Foxcroft, John
Fragonard, Jean-Honoré
France
following Franklin’s death
Franklin’s reputation in
France visit—American Revolution
criticism of Franklin
Franklin’s fame and
Franklin’s fur cap
French aid
peace and
voyage/settling in
Frankenstein
Franklin, Abiah (mother)
Franklin, Benjamin
ancestors
becoming “a man of letters/gentleman,”
becoming prosperous through fame
birth of
childhood
curiosity of
death of
early desire to be noticed
education
as icon
ignoring criticism of
patrons of
selecting friends (in his thirties)
today’s image of
virtues proposed by
will/distribution of goods
wish to see the future
See also Electricity work by Franklin; Gulf Stream; Writing by Franklin
The First Scientific American Page 52