V. Orval Watts

When Benjamin Franklin first went to Paris as envoy from the newly formed Confederacy of American States, crowds lined the street to see him ride to and from his lodgings. This was not because he represented an upstart little nation fighting for its independence. Instead, it was because he was already world famous as a scholar, scientist, and philosopher. Of formal schooling he had almost none, but even by today's standards, he was a highly educated man.