![]() ![]() Small introduced the promising student to George Wythe, who became Jefferson’s law teacher, and Small and Wythe brought Jefferson into the circle of Francis Fauquier, the British colonial governor in Virginia. Educated at the University of Aberdeen in his native Scotland, Small taught mathematics and natural philosophy (natural science) at the college and trained Jefferson in quantitative and systematic approaches to science. When Jefferson attended the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg in the early 1760s, his most influential mentor on the faculty was William Small. ![]() This was likely one of his stronger motivations. He was a member of networks that encouraged the collection and sharing of meteorological information. And a big question would be why, if his primary motivation for keeping his weather records was to help him manage his Virginia plantations, he made observations in Paris for four and a half years in the 1780s. No one had worked out how to turn meteorological data into reliable predictions of the weather. There is no clear picture, however, of how he might have tried to use his assemblage of quantified data to make decisions about planting or harvesting. He made several notations in the records relating to crops such as tobacco and corn, and gave particular attention to garden produce. There is likely some basis for this as a reason for his weather observation. He relied on agriculture for his income and farmers are closely dependent on the weather. For Jefferson, there needed to be a reason for any scientific investigation. In a 1799 letter responding to a young man who had asked him what subjects were important to study, he listed several areas of science, including natural philosophy (what we would call natural sciences), but nothing specifically relating to what we would term meteorology. Yet for his own time and attention, Jefferson dismissed theory that was unrelated to practical problems and shunned the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake. This Jefferson-as-polymath is imagined in Cornelius Tiebout’s 1801 engraving, which depicted the newly elected president of the United States with a globe, an electrostatic generator, and a bust of Benjamin Franklin all close at hand along with the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson was proficient at architecture he excavated and studied the stratigraphy of an ancient mound he wrote a paper describing fossil remains of an ancient ground sloth and he used mathematics to design a plowshare. There is some basis to this as a reason for Jefferson’s attention to weather, but with limitations. Jefferson was a “Renaissance Man” who investigated all areas of intellectual inquiry. Why? Some motivations that might be suggested are: In his encouragement to James Madison in 1784, he stated only that “It will be an amusement to you and may become useful.” But Jefferson kept at it, off and on, for half a century. Jefferson provided little explanation of his reasons for keeping the weather records. Though offensive rookie of the year has become more of a quarterback award recently, Jefferson’s strong first season merits consideration for the honor.Cornelius Tiebout, engraving after Rembrandt Peale, 1801. I just use that as fuel towards my game and I just go out there and try to prove everybody wrong.” There’s always people that have hatred towards me or whatever. “Just having in the back of my mind that there are always people that doubt me of doing certain things. “I think about it a lot and that’s what kind of fuels my game,” Jefferson said on Thursday, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN. Cincinnati’s Tee Higgins is second among first-year players at 729.īut Jefferson hasn’t forgotten the criticism he received in the lead up to the draft about his potential limitations, and that four players at his position were selected before him. He’s currently fourth overall in receiving yards, well ahead of every other rookie. He became just the second rookie in team history to eclipse 1,000 yards last Sunday, and now has the opportunity to break Randy Moss’ rookie record of 1,313 yards in 1998. Jefferson has 61 receptions for 1,039 yards and seven touchdowns in 2020. Justin Jefferson was the fifth receiver selected in the 2020 draft, but he’s outperformed every other wideout in the rookie class. ![]()
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