1750-1799

English physicist and inventor who invented the gold-leaf electroscope, an instrument used to detect electric charge. A gold-leaf electroscope contains two thin strips of gold that hang from either end of a rod. When the rod is electrically charged, the gold strips repel each other and spread apart. Bennet also invented a device called an electrical doubler. It was designed to multiply a small electrical charge until the charge was large enough to be detected by other instruments.