ABSTRACT
During the 18th century, the scientist/philosopher Benjamin Franklin became fascinated with the spreading of liquid soaps (e.g., palmitates, stearates) on large bodies of water. He observed that the liquid soap seemed to "calm" or dampen the waves of an area of water far larger than that originally covered. Franklin was perhaps the first to note that the liquid soap film would have had to thin to a film one molecule in thickness in order to explain its effect on such a large area of water.
