Benjamin Franklin was a person.
Benjamin Franklin FRS , FRSE ( April 17 , 1790 ) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States . He pioneered and was first president of The Academy and College of Philadelphia which opened in 1751 and later became the University of Pennsylvania . He organized and was the first secretary of the American Philosophical Society and was elected president in 1769 . An accomplished diplomat , he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco-American relations . During the Revolution , he became the first US Postmaster General .