Named in memory of the American scientist, philosopher and statesman Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), who was one of the brightest and most creative scholars of his time. He contributed in many areas of natural science: electricity, aurorae, earthquakes and atmospheric storms. Franklin proposed the two kinds of electric charge, positive and negative, and his famous experiments in 1752 with kites flown into storm clouds led to the invention of the lightning rod. (M 34621) _ _.