Thomas Jefferson was a true polymath. As one of his early
biographers put it, Jefferson "could calculate an eclipse,
survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a case,
break a horse, dance a minuet, and play the violin." He knew
seven languages, masterminded the expedition of Lewis and Clark,
and helped to introduce pasta and ice cream to the American
palate. At Monticello, his mountaintop estate, he experimented
with the cultivation of grapes, tomatoes, and about 30 varieties
of the green pea. As president of the American Philosophical
Society, the New World's premier scientific organization, he
promoted the study of archaeology and anthropology. At West
Point he established the United States Military Academy and in
Charlottesville he founded the University of Virginia. After the
British in 1814 torched the Library of Congress, the U.S.
government acquired from Jefferson his personal collection of
6,487 volumes, twice as many as had been lost in the blaze and,
at the time, the largest assemblage o