Menelai Sphaericorum Libri III. Quos olim, collatis MSS. Hebraeis & Arabicis, Typis exprimendos curavit Vir Cl. Ed. Halleius L.L.D. R.S.S. & Geometriae Professor Savil. Oxoniensis. [Menelaus’ Spherics]. by Halley, Edmond. [Benjamin Franklin] - 1758

Oxonii [Oxford]: Sumptibus Academicis, 1758. At the turn of the 18th century, astronomers knew in large part the shape of our solar system, but the precise size of its distances remained uncertain. In 1716, English astronomer Edmond Halley proposed a worldwide experiment to use the 1761 and 1769 Transits of Venus to measure the distance of the earth from the sun (today called the "astronomical unit"), unlocking the size and measure of the solar system. Ever a champion of scientific collaboration, it was Franklin who spurred on America's participation in the 1769 transit experiment which would soon thrust American science into the international limelight. After spearheading American involvement in the experiment, Franklin disseminated the findings of the American scientists, making certain that the American Philosophical Society published the Transit of Venus reports; he himself contributed an article for the Journal of the Royal Society.