When Benjamin Franklin fashioned the first lightning rod in the 1750s following his famous experiment flying a kite with a key attached during a thunderstorm, the American inventor had no way of ...

Benjamin Franklin is credited with inventing the lightning rod, and for some 270 years it has remained the main tool for protecting buildings from destructive and potentially deadly thunderbolts ...

Ben Franklin’s famous experiment with the kite and key gave him a better understanding of the nature of electricity. But did that event lead to the lightning rod?

In the mid-18th century, Benjamin Franklin helped elucidate the nature of lightning and endorsed the protective value of lightning rods. And yet, a hundred years later, much of the public remained ...

Lightning rods and fashion In this Weather Wednesday we look at how Benjamin Franklin's lightning rod inspired fashion.

The best, most practical technology available to deflect lightning is the simple lightning rod, created by Benjamin Franklin more than 250 years ago.

Most Americans are familiar with the story of Benjamin Franklin and his famous 18th-century experiment in which he attached a metal key to a kite during a thunderstorm to see if the lightning ...

Benjamin Franklin flew a kite in a storm and advanced humanity's understanding of electricity on this day in history, June 10, 1752. Franklin was also a U.S. statesman and founding father.

Mr. Munson emphasizes that Franklin’s well-known practical inventions—the lightning rod, bifocals, the so-called Franklin stove—were not merely the products of a playful or quirky tinkerer.