Why did Benjamin Franklin not die from his lightning strike?

If Franklin did perform this experiment, he may not have done it in the way that is often described—flying the kite and waiting to be struck by lightning—as it would have been dangerous. read more

Little did Franklin know that his original letter to Collinson, once translated to French, was causing quite a stir in Paris. To test Franklin’s hypothesis, naturalist Thomas-Francois Dalibard used a large metal pole to conduct electricity from lightning on May 10, 1752. read more

What Ben actually did in his famous 1752 experiment was to cause some excess electrical charge near a storm cloud to ground out through his kite string–still an impressive demonstration, but a much less powerful prospect than an actual lightning strike. read more