But recently a whole group of persons that may have actually had lunch together came to my attention - can you imagine having lunch with the founding members of the American Philosophical Society?
The Society's Library Building
The American Philosophical Society is a discussion group founded in 1743 by Benjamin Franklin as an offshoot of his earlier club, the Junto. Today, through research grants, published journals, the upkeep of an extensive library, and regular meetings, the society continues to advance careful study in a wide variety of disciplines in the humanities and the sciences.
From the beginning, the Society attracted some of America's finest minds. Early members included George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Paine, David Rittenhouse, Benjamin Rush, James Madison, Michael Hillegas, and John Marshall. The Society also drew philosophers from other nations as members, including Alexander von Humboldt, the Marquis de Lafayette, Baron von Steuben, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, and Yekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova.
It obviously took a fine mind to pronounce let alone remember that last person's name. She was the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the closest female friend of Empress Catherine the Great and a major figure of the Russian Enlightenment.
Later members include such luminaries as Charles Darwin, Robert Frost, Louis Pasteur, Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz, John James Audubon, Linus Pauling, Margaret Mead, Maria Mitchell, and Thomas Edison.
I would eagerly and willingly pay for lunch for the whole crowd if it meant getting to talk to them for a short while!
The Society's building is right next door to Independence Hall (the white cupola in the background) the home of the Liberty Bell. The building is open to the public.
So, whom would you most enjoy having lunch with, alive or dead?
2 comments:
If you ever managed to have lunch with those people, I would absolutely love to join you. I'm sure the conversations during the lunch would be fascinating.
I don't know if I could choose any one of those members, I'd probably have to choose all of them, as they had such differing opinions on things. I also would love to have lunch with Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee and Abraham Lincoln to hear their stories of the American Civil War.
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