ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Historian and APS Member Joyce Chaplin joins host Patrick Spero to speak about Benjamin Franklin and the global significance of the Franklin stove.
Chaplin explores how Franklin’s efforts to heat his Philadelphia home during the Little Ice Age led to new ways of thinking about fuel efficiency, indoor climate, and the atmosphere itself. The conversation moves from colonial Pennsylvania and environmental change to Franklin’s broader scientific insights, including his ideas about convection, storms, and conservation.
Tracing the stove’s surprising spread across Europe, Chaplin reframes Franklin not only as a founder of the American Revolution, but also as a key figure in the Industrial Revolution and an early critic of wasteful fuel use. The episode reveals how a practical invention meant to warm a room reshaped ideas about science, climate, and modern life.
