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Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin Invents the Glass Armonica
Franklin developed a musical instrument that he called the armonica (after the Italian word for harmony). To play the armonica, a musician powered a foot pedal to rotate 36 concentric glass bowls and produced notes by putting wet fingers to the spinning glass. In Austria, the glass armonica provided the music for a royal wedding. Mozart and Beethoven would compose chamber pieces for it.
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Benjamin Franklin helps craft the Declaration of Independence and wins French support.
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After success as a Philadelphia printer Benjamin Franklin earns worldwide fame in science.