Heaven’s Lightnings

Some considered Benjamin Franklin’s scientific innovations in religious terms.

Benjamin Franklin applied lessons learned from his famous electrical experiments in developing lightning rods to protect buildings—hay-filled barns and churches with tall steeples, for example—from lightning strikes and fires. Critics declared it “impious to ward off Heaven’s lightnings” and accused Franklin of interfering with divine will. But he responded that “God in his goodness to mankind” had led him to the discovery.