IIT Social Sciences | Spring 2012 Benjamin Franklin Project Symposium
The IIT College of Science and Letters Department of Social Sciences' Benjamin Franklin Project Symposium, "Founding Science and the Making of a Modern Republic," was held on April 26, 2012 in the Hermann Hall Ballroom. The symposium included panel discussions featuring Ralph Lerner (University of Chicago), Stuart Warner (Roosevelt University), David Lieberman (University of California, Berkeley), Jan Golinski (University of New Hampshire), Russell Betts (IIT College of Science and Letters), and Harold Krent (IIT Chicago-Kent).
Founding Science and the Making of a Modern Republic—Part 1
Founding Science and the Making of a Modern Republic—Part 2
Founding Science and the Making of a Modern Republic—Photo Gallery
As one of the United States' Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin is known for his vision, his wit, his love of life, his expert knowledge in governance, science, engineering, business, education, music, and philosophy, and the treasure trove of writings, discoveries, inventions, and ideas that he left behind.
Through a series of events and special courses taught at the IIT campus, the Benjamin Franklin Project allows students and scholars to explore the full range of the Founders' work—from their most practical domestic devices to the extraordinary idea and architecture of the New Republic. The Project focuses especially on the Enlightenment and the Framers as scientists, inventors and designers in both the social and the natural realms, exploring how all these elements continue to spark imaginations and shape priorities in today's far more interconnected world.
The inaugural Benjamin Franklin Project Lecture was delivered by renowned scholar Gordon Wood (Brown University) on March 15, 2012. The first Jack Miller Post-Doctoral Fellow will take up residency in the Department of Social Sciences and begin teaching in August of 2012.
Benjamin Franklin Image: Benjamin Franklin Drawing Electricity from the Sky, Benjamin West c. 1816 [src: http://www.philamuseum.org]
