to see how it worked. He later printed weather forecasts in his almanac. In his travels.

             across the Atlantic Ocean he became interested in ocean currents and shipbuilding. He.

             measured temperatures on each of his eight trips to Europe and eventually plotted a.

             Gulf Stream. Ben was one of the first people to work on gulf streams.

             In November of 1783, Ben was in Paris, France working on a peace treaty to end the.

             American war against England. From his window, he saw the worlds first known hot air.

             balloon flight. The balloon lifted the Montgolfier brothers off of the ground as the first.

             human beings ever known to fly. Ben was very interested in the idea of flight. He.

             predicted that balloons would eventually be used for military spy flights and dropping.

             bombs during battle. Ben's natural curiosity about things and the way they work made.

             him try to find ways to make things work better. A list of Benjamin Franklin's inventions.

             reveals a brilliant man. Ben was cursed with poor vision, both farsighted and.

             nearsighted. Franklin got frustrated with having to take off his glasses every time he.

             needed to read something. He wished his glasses could make him see far and near. In.

             order to accomplish this, Franklin cut two pairs of lenses in half and put half of each.

             lens in one frame, inventing what we call today, bifocals. Though Ben is not known for.

             studding bioscience, he was interested in how the human body works. His contribution.

             to the study of the body was his invention of the flexible catheter, an instrument for.

             showing the blood's circulation. During his long trips across the ocean he had time to.

             study ships and how they worked. He derived a way to make ships more sturdy and.

             safe by inventing "watertight bulkheads". This greatly improved the safety of sea travel.

             At the time people were using their fireplaces to heat there house. All that wood in an.

             unprotected area cause many fires. Ben decided there was a better and safer answer,.