The winter of 1740-1741 was exceptionally cold in North America. And as Benjamin Franklin looked around his house and neighborhood, he saw a problem in need of fixing: energy going to waste as people consumed wood to keep their homes warm.
How did Franklin’s stove save energy? What does it reveal about wood, trees, and attempts to control the climate? And how can that help us understand how humans relate to their environment?
Joyce Chaplin, a historian of early America and the environment, and an expert on Benjamin Franklin, joins us to discuss how Franklin’s stoves help us understand climate change with details from her new book, The Franklin Stove.
About the Show
Ben Franklin’s World is a podcast about early American history.
It is a show for people who love history and for those who want to know more about the historical people and events that have impacted and shaped our present-day world.
Episode Summary
Joyce Chaplin is a professor at Harvard University and a renowned scholar of early America, science, and climate. She’s the author or editor of ten books, including The First Scientific American, Round about the Earth, and The Franklin Stove.
Building on the research in her new book, Joyce explores how a frigid winter pushed Franklin to invent a new way to distribute heat in indoor spaces.
What You’ll Discover
- The impact of the Little Ice Age on the climate of North America
- The five designs for Franklin’s stove
- Iron manufacturing in Pennsylvania
- Experiments on electricity and heat
- Indigenous experiences of the Little Ice Age
- Wood consumption
- Slavery and labor
- Women and the household economy
- Fire as a community builder
- Indigenous removal
- Climate change and the American Revolution
Links to People, Places, and Publications
1776 in Context Question
In your opinion, how does thinking about Franklin’s stove and climate change help us understand the American Revolution?
Complementary Episodes
🎧 Episode 015: Joyce E. Chaplin, Round About the Earth: Circumnavigation from Magellan to Orbit
🎧 Episode 086: George Goodwin, Benjamin Franklin in London
🎧 Episode 169: Thomas Kidd, The Religious Life of Benjamin Franklin
🎧 Episode 189: Sam White, The Little Ice Age
🎧 Episode 207: Nick Bunker, Young Benjamin Franklin
🎧 Episode 397: Kathleen DuVal, Native Nations: A Millennium in North America
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