When I was 16 years old I decided to become a vegetarian so I could spend my money on books instead of meat. I loved reading!
I liked to play chess and magic squares, and I had great interest in music. I played several musical instruments, including the violin, harp, and guitar, and during my years at 36 Craven Street I even built my own instrument: the glass armonica.
This simple musical instrument is played by touching the rim of the spinning glasses held together by a metal rod, with dampened fingers. The armonica's beautiful tones have appealed to many composers, including Mozart and Beethoven. If you visit us at Benjamin Franklin House, you can try to play a real glass armonica.
Some of my inventions include: bifocals, lightning rods, library chairs, swimming fins, catheters, and Daylight Savings Time.
When I lived in Philadelphia I had my own printing office, and my most famous publication was the annual Poor Richard's Almanack. In it I pretended to be a character, Richard Saunders, and filled it with useful information including pictures about weather in the year ahead. I used plenty of cartoons and pictures so that everyone could understand the news, even people who did not know how to read.
There I also helped set up the US postal system, started the Union Fire Company, and founded America 's first circulating library so that people could borrow books to read if they couldn’t afford to buy them.
Later on, I established other organizations to improve people’s lives including the University of Pennsylvania, the American Philosophical Society, and the Pennsylvania Hospital.
Benjamin Franklin died on April 17, 1790, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ( USA ), having made the world a better place. Born an Englishman, he died an American one who believed in the important relationship between Britain and America.
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