Benjamin Franklin did not invent electricity, but he discovered how to harness its power for common use. Franklin's kite experiment helped identify the electric nature of lightning and the transfer of electrical charge. The Apple TV+ series "Franklin" dramatizes Franklin's secret mission to engineer the Franco-American alliance of 1778, but doesn't include the kite experiment.

When Benjamin Franklin first arrives on French soil in Franklin episode 1, he is greeted as a hero by the French people, many of whom thank him for giving them electricity. The great American polymath played by Michael Douglas was one of the era's foremost inventors, in addition to being a top-flight politician, writer, and scientist. Some of his most important experimentation as an inventor related to electricity, and his now-famous kite experiment helped contribute to the misguided notion that he gave the French people the power of electricity.

While the first documentation of electricity itself dates back thousands of years,...