Half of Wisdom: A Podcast of Prudent Questions

Benjamin Franklin didn’t discover electricity, but his experiments built on the knowledge of his day, advancing our understanding of electricity and providing us with several practical applications.

Here are some resources to learn more about Bejamin Franklin and electricity:

• Van Doren, Carl (1938).  Benjamin Franklin.  Viking.
• IEEE Spectrum.  Benjamin Franklin’s Other Great Electrical Discovery: Turkey Tenderization.  https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-history/dawn-of-electronics/ben-franklins-iotheri-great-electrical-discovery-turkey-tenderization.
• American Physical Society.  This Month in Physics History: December 23, 1750: Ben Franklin Attempts to Electrocute a Turkey.  https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/200612/history.cfm.
• https://franklinpapers.org/ (Collected papers of Benjamin Franklin).
• Lawson, Robert (1939).  Ben and Me: An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos.  Little, Brown and Company.
• Beretta, Gene (2006).  Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin.  Henry Holt and Company.
• Harness, Cheryl (2005).  The Remarkable Benjamin Franklin.  National Geographic.
• Byrd, Robert (2012).  Electric Ben: The Amazing Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin.  Dial Books for Young Readers.

Our intro and outro music is DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Please follow us on Twitter at @PrudentQPodcast, and contact us at [email protected].

We all learned in school about the Pythagorean theorem: in a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the other two sides.  Despite the name, this theorem probably wasn’t discovered by Pythagoras; the Egyptians, Mesopotamians, Indians, Chinese, and other Greeks all had a hand in developing it.

Here are some resources to learn more about the Pythagorean theorem:

• Maor, Eli.  (2007).  The Pythagorean Theorem: A 4,000-Year History.  Princeton University Press.
• Swetz, Frank; Kao, T. I.  (1977).  Was Pythagoras Chinese?: An Examination of Right Triangle Theory in Ancient China.  Pennsylvania State University Press.
• Cut the Knot.  Pythagorean Theorem.  https://www.cut-the-knot.org/pythagoras/ (122 proofs of the theorem visualized).

Our intro and outro music is DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Please follow us on Twitter at @PrudentQPodcast, and contact us at [email protected].

Pre-modern people thought sudden new features in the night sky, such as comets and meteors, were important and often terrifying.  Today, we know what comets are and why they appear so suddenly and remain so briefly, but new bright comets can surprise us just as much.

Here are some resources to learn more about comets:

• Bortle, John E.  (1998).  The Bright-Comet Chronicles.  International Comet Quarterly.  www.icq.eps.harvard.edu/bortle.html
• Brandt, John C. & Chapman, Robert D. (2004). Introduction to Comets (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• First People.  Coyote Dances with a Star: A Cheyenne Legend.  https://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/CoyoteDancesWithAStar-Cheyenne.html
• Sagan, Carl; Druyan, Ann.  (1997).  Comet.  Headline.

Our intro and outro music is DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Please follow us on Twitter at @PrudentQPodcast, and contact us at [email protected].

John Howland, the man who fell off the Mayflower and survived, lived a long and eventful life in the New World.

Here are some resources to learn more about John Howland:

• Plimoth Plantation.  (2003).  Mayflower 1620: A New Look at a Pilgrim Voyage.  National Geographic Partners.
• Lynch, P.J.  (2015).  The Boy Who Fell Off the Mayflower.  Candlewick Press.
• Philbrick, N.  (2006).  Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War.  Viking.
• The Pilgrim John Howland Society.  (April 2020).  The Life of John and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland as found in the Records.  https://pilgrimjohnhowlandsociety.org/The_Life_of_John_and_Elizabeth__Tilley__Howland_as_Found_in_the_Records

Our intro and outro music is DriftMaster by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

Please follow us on Twitter at @PrudentQPodcast, and contact us at [email protected].