The Franklin Stove - An Unintended American Revolution with Joyce E. Chapman

The biggest revolution in Benjamin Franklin’s lifetime was made to fit in a fireplace. The Franklin stove became one of the era’s most iconic consumer products that started with Franklin's attempt to invent his way out of a climate crisis: a period of global cooling known as the Little Ice Age, when unusually bitter winters sometimes brought life to a standstill. He conceived of his invention as equal parts appliance and scientific instrument. With his stove, Franklin became America’s first climate scientist. Joyce E. Chaplin, the author of The Franklin Stove  will tell the story of this singular invention, and give listeners a revelatory new look at the Founding Father we thought we knew. Copies of The Franklin Stove will be available for purchase at the talk or at The Purple Couch Bookstore. See link for more details and for tickets. 

Joyce E. Chaplin is the James Duncan Phillips Professor of Early American History at Harvard University, where she also holds affiliations with the Graduate School of Design and Center for the Environment.