How old is Benjamin Franklin?

Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the USA, the 6th President of Pennsylvania, and one of the key figures in the whole American history, a scientist, politician, statesman, diplomat, writer, philosopher, inventor, and so on. He came to this world in 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in a very large family. He had 16 siblings and his father was born in Britain but immigrated to the US about 20 years before Benjamin was born. The childhood of a future statesman was very poor and his father had no money to give him a proper education. When Franklin was 17, he moved to Philadelphia and tried to start a new life there. His natural talent for business helped him to establish plenty of connections, and in the late 1720s he was an editor and publisher of his own agency. The next two decades were dedicated to various kinds of writing and enlightening work. He wrote for the Philadelphia Chronicles under the name of Richard Saunders. In the middle of the century Franklin became the first president of the Academy and College of Philadelphia, as well as got into science and philosophy.

In the second half of the century Franklin began to put effort into various social and political movements, as well as getting involved in various domestic and international matters. He served as a US Ambassador to France and contributed in setting very good relationships. After the American revolution, he was elected the 6th President of Pennsylvania and introduced a number of reforms directed on popularizing education, as well as made some steps towards abolishing slavery. He made a number of inventions (like the Franklin stove or glass harmonica) and scientific breakthroughs, studied electricity and came up with the name for the Gulf Stream. Undoubtedly, Benjamin Franklin was an outstanding personality in the whole American history, thus his name is given to plenty of ships, geographical objects, educational and social institutions, etc.

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