... Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why? This was very hard to answer. Ultimately I chose Thomas Jefferson, an interest that dates back to my visit to Monticello as a teenager. I was deeply impressed with his studies of science, which range from meteorology, to geology and paleontology, interest in meteorites (such as the Weston meteorite and the associated controversy), and his meticulous notes on nature, which includes chemically related phenomena. ...