Jefferson, Science, and Exploration

This exhibition was on view April 10 – December 30, 2015.

Click here to hear about the exhibition on WHYY Radio’s The Pulse.

Thomas Jefferson had a passion for knowledge that encompassed theoretical and applied sciences. As president of the APS for 17 years—before, during, and after he was president of the nation—he fostered American participation in a broad range of fields from paleontology to botany to meteorology, all of which are featured in this exhibition. President Jefferson advocated for westward exploration, providing explorers with detailed instructions on how to prepare for their expeditions. He sent Meriwether Lewis to study with five Philadelphians, all APS members with specific expertise that Lewis would need to be successful. This exhibition demonstrates the inseparable connections between science and national pride in Jefferson’s time and takes visitors up to the eve of Lewis and Clark’s journey.

Jefferson, Science, and Exploration shares with visitors five important facets of Jefferson’s intellect and personality.

• Jefferson was a scientist—he participated in and encouraged his fellow countrymen to participate in useful sciences like botany, meteorology, astronomy, and surveying.

Titian Ramsay Peale, American Purple Gallinule, APS

• Big data counted for Jefferson—he rebutted European stereotypes of American nature as degenerate and weak by gathering scientific data on the size and variety of American plants, animals, and humans—even calculating the number of geniuses America had produced per capita. Jefferson also promoted collecting weather data to counter the belief that America’s “swampy” climate contributed to degenerate flora and fauna.

Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, page 67, APS

James Madison, Weather Journal, 1784-1791, Manuscript book, APS

• Jefferson promoted scientific exploration—he encouraged explorers to prepare for their journeys by training in relevant scientific fields, such as botany, land surveying, and astronomy. For Jefferson, exploration was an opportunity to expand both political and natural knowledge of North America.

Thomas Jefferson, Map from Notes on the State of Virginia, APS

• Physical evidence added to Jefferson’s argument for America’s greatness—he fostered the collection of a wide variety of American antiquities for himself and for the APS, everything from mammoth bones to Native American artifacts.

Graphic from “A Description of the Bones deposited, by the President, in the Museum of the Society,” APS Transactions, vol. 4 (old series), Caspar Wistar, 1799, APS

• A life-long learner himself, Jefferson was an advocate of education—he founded the University of Virginia, whose wide-ranging curriculum allowed students to major in the broad range of sciences that reflected its founder’s interests.

Herman Boye, University of Virginia,detail, Courtesy of the Library of Congress Geography and Map Division

Click to listen to “The Beauties of Creation,” sung by The Pulse Singers (the staff of WHYY!).

Support for this exhibition is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, donations by visitors to the APS Museum, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and the Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

Gathering Voices: Thomas Jefferson and Native America, the third and final exhibition in the APS Museum’s series on Thomas Jefferson, will open on April 15, 2016.