- George Washington
- Thomas Jefferson
- Ben Franklin
- Alexander Hamilton
I see four:
- the general
- the thinker and ambassador
- the mentor and "old man"
- finance wizard
Again, I see four:
- Robert Oppenheimer: the general
- Richard Feynman: the thinker and ambassador
- John von Neuman: the mentor
- Hans Bethe: the computational wizard
Even better: during the height of the Revolutionary War, there was a most famous turncoat.
And with the Manhattan Project, a most famous spy.
From Gleick, page 208:
Already, in November 1945, with relieved soldiers and sailors streaming home from the Pacific Theater, ....Wow, my father was on serving on a naval troop ferrying "rested" US Marines to China while returning exhausted marines and soldiers back to the US on the return trip.
I completely forgot -- never thought -- of asking dad how he heard about the end of war in the Pacific, or the war in Europe for that matter. I never asked him how he heard about the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. What was his reaction when he heard that news? Would he even remember the names of the two Japanese cities. Wow, this will bug me for some time that I never thought to ask. Perhaps some things are just too personal.
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Gerry-Meandering
It's funny. I know nothing about Long Island. If I had all the money in the world, I would spend some time in Long Island.
In any number of books that I have read the past few months, I feel drawn to:
- Far Rockaway
- Long Island City (LIT is a popular drink at Hopdaddy's)
- Astoria
- The Great Gatsy
- biography of Richard Feynman
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