Experiments and Observations on Electricity

rdf:langString Experiments and Observations on Electricity

rdf:langString Experiments and Observations on Electricity is a mid-eighteenth century book consisting of letters from Benjamin Franklin. These letters concerned Franklin's discoveries about the behavior of electricity based on experimentation and scientific studies. The book came in pamphlet form for the first three English editions. The last two editions were in a book volume with hard covers and a book spine. There were eleven European editions of the book: five English editions, three French editions, and a German, Italian and Latin edition. The publication was well received worldwide. It was considered America's most important scientific book of the eighteenth century. The book came about through the activities of scientists at the Royal Society of London. Franklin sent letters to members of the Society about his experiments on electricity and the observations he had made. Most of these letters went to Peter Collinson. Some of these were read at the society's meetings. There was much interest shown, so some of them were sent to a printer to be published in a magazine. Public interest in Franklin's letters about electricity led the Society to gather together many of the letters to Collinson from Franklin over a two-year period and send them to the printer for publication. This first collection of letters was published in a ninety-page pamphlet in 1751. It was soon followed by other parts that were "Supplemental" to the existing edition and eventually a "New" publication was sold from the total of all the "Parts" produced. Each edition expanded by additional Franklin letters being added. It ultimately became a 496-page volume by 1769. The book inspired others to follow in Franklin's footsteps to do further in-depth research on electricity.