Benjamin Banneker
1731-1806
Image: Maxime Seelbinder, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.
You’re Benjamin Banneker! You love inviting all your friends over for extravagant candlelit dinners. No topic of conversation is off-limits, but you tend to steer it towards something visionary, like interstellar travel.
Benjamin Banneker was a mathematician, astronomer, surveyor, and almanac author. Born in 1731 a free African-American, Banneker is perhaps most famous for his construction of a wooden clock. The clock was built completely from scratch and kept precise time for nearly 40 years.