Editing Benjamin Franklin (section)

===  Meteorology ===
[[File:BenFranklin Waterspout 1806.jpg|thumb|An illustration that appears in Franklin's paper, "Water-spouts and Whirlwinds"]]
On October 21, 1743, according to the popular myth, a storm moving from the southwest denied Franklin the opportunity of witnessing a [[lunar eclipse]]. He was said to have noted that the [[prevailing winds]] were actually from the northeast, contrary to what he had expected. In correspondence with his brother, he learned that the same storm had not reached Boston until after the eclipse, despite the fact that Boston is to the northeast of Philadelphia. He deduced that storms do not always travel in the direction of the prevailing wind, a concept that greatly influenced [[meteorology]].<ref>Heidorn, Keith C. Heidorn, PhD. [http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/almanac/arc2003/alm03oct.htm ''Eclipsed By Storm''.] The Weather Doctor. October 1, 2003.</ref> After the Icelandic volcanic eruption of [[Laki]] in 1783, and the subsequent harsh European winter of 1784, Franklin made observations on the causal nature of these two seemingly separate events. He wrote about them in a lecture series.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dartmouth.edu/~volcano/Fr373p77.html|title=Memoirs of the literary and philosophical society of Manchester|website=www.dartmouth.edu|access-date=December 3, 2019|archive-date=June 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180615223254/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~volcano/Fr373p77.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>