Check out the virtual tour, related projects and educational resources by clicking the links to the right. 

“For there is no Rank in Natural Knowledge of equal Dignity and Importance with that of being a good Parent, a good Child, a good Husband, or Wife, a good Neighbour or Friend, a good Subject or Citizen.”

- Benjamin Franklin, 1760 

Taking inspiration from Benjamin Franklin’s commitment to the pursuit of knowledge for the “Benefit of Mankind in General,” Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist considers the relationship between science and public life in the 18th-century Atlantic World. The exhibition examines the production, circulation, application, and accessibility of scientific knowledge through the life and work of Benjamin Franklin. Throughout, it highlights lesser-known contributors to the scientific enterprise and the various spaces where science was performed. The exhibition connects Franklin's scientific pursuits to contemporary issues in science and society.

The exhibition draws on the American Philosophical Society Library & Museum’s extensive holdings. Highlights of the exhibition include a first edition of Franklin’s critically important text Experiments and Observations on Electricity, a set of Leyden jars reportedly used by Franklin in his electrical experiments, Franklin’s chart of the Gulf Stream, and the only-known portrait of Deborah Franklin. 

Dr. Franklin, Citizen Scientist was open on August 6, 2021 and closed on Sunday, December 19, 2021 at the American Philosophical Society Museum in a limited capacity.