Benjamin Franklin: Question #3

Franklin had some good connections: the governor helped him get his start; he met up with people in the printing industry in New York on the way to Philadelphia, etc. Considering all that Franklin accomplished in his life, was Franklin an unprecedented genius, or just in the right place at the right time? Are there people of equal caliber that we never hear of because they’re born in some obscure part of the world? Does such a thing as a “self-made man” exist, or is it all about who you know?