Benjamin Franklin — Inventor, Diplomat, Publisher

**Benjamin Franklin** was America's original polymath — printer, scientist, inventor, diplomat, postmaster, and the elder statesman of the founding generation. Born in 1706 in Boston, the tenth son of a soap maker, he ran away to Philadelphia at 17 with almost nothing and built himself into the most famous American in the world. His path wasn't through law or plantation wealth like the other founders — it was through ink, curiosity, and relentless self-improvement. He launched the Pennsylvania Gazette, published Poor Richard's Almanack for 25 years, founded the first public lending library, organized Philadelphia's first fire company, established the University of Pennsylvania, and invented the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove — all before the Revolution started.