Tech Presidents Day: George, Tom and Abe

By Randy Alfred – Wired.com
February 11, 2010

Wired.com marks Presidents Day weekend with brief vignettes of three of our techiest presidents: Washington steered national policy toward an embrace of science, Jefferson made a significant contribution to paleontology, and Lincoln devised and patented a gimmick for lifting stranded boats.

The Library of Congress has this manuscript of George Washington’s first State of the Union address.

Washington’s Advice

Jan. 8, 1790: During his first — and the nation’s first — State of the Union address, President George Washington urges the young nation to encourage the sciences and literature, calling knowledge “the surest basis for public happiness.”

He also called for importing “useful inventions from abroad” while encouraging homegrown genius to flourish, by means of offering patent protection for inventors.

Washington was trained as a surveyor, and he attached great importance to the study of science and literature. His views also reflected the general attitude of the gentry toward classical education. The Founding Fathers, most of who came from this class, were children of the Enlightenment, the philosophy of rationalism that rose in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Faith in science was a central pillar of that philosophy.