Honoring James Smithson

Honoring James Smithson PDF Author: Edward Marsh Gordon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Labor turnover
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description

Honoring James Smithson

Honoring James Smithson PDF Author: Edward Marsh Gordon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Labor turnover
Languages : en
Pages : 66

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Book Description


The Lost World of James Smithson

The Lost World of James Smithson PDF Author: Heather Ewing
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408820757
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 577

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Book Description
In 1836 the United States government received a strange and unprecedented gift - a bequest of 104,960 gold sovereigns (then worth half a million dollars) to establish a foundation in Washington 'for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men'. The Smithsonian Institution, as it would eventually be called, grew into the largest museum and research complex in the world. Yet it owes its existence to an Englishman who never set foot in the United States, and who has remained a shadowy figure for more than a hundred and fifty years. Smithson lived a restless life in the capitals of Europe during the turbulent years of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars; at one time he was trailed by the French secret police, and later languished as a prisoner of war in Denmark for four long years. Yet despite a certain a penchant for gambling and fine living, he had, by the time of his death in Paris in 1829, amassed a financial fortune and a wealth of scientific papers that he left to the new democracy America. Spurned by his natural father and his country, he would be acknowledged for his own achievements in the New World. Drawing on unpublished diaries and letters from archives all over Europe and the United States, Heather Ewing tells the full and compelling story for the first time, revealing a life lived at the heart of the English Enlightenment and illuminating the mind that sparked the creation of America's greatest museum.

The Stranger and the Statesman

The Stranger and the Statesman PDF Author: Nina Burleigh
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0060002425
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
"After Smithson's death, nineteenth-century American politicans were given the task of securing his half-million dollars - the equivalent today of fifty million - and then trying to determine how to increase and diffuse knowledge from the muddy, brawling new city of Washington. Burleigh discloses how Smithson's bequest was nearly lost due to fierce battles among many clashing Americans - Southern slavers, state's rights advocates, nation-builders, corrupt frontiersmen, and Anglophobes who argued over whether a gift from an Englishman should even be accepted. She also reveals the efforts of the unsung heroes, mainly former president John Quincy Adams, whose tireless efforts finally saw Smithson's curious notion realized in 1846, with a castle housing the United States' first and greatest cultural and scientific establishment."--BOOK JACKET.

The Cyclopaedia

The Cyclopaedia PDF Author: Abraham Rees
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 820

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James Smithson and His Bequest

James Smithson and His Bequest PDF Author: William Jones Rhees
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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The Scientific writings of James Smithson

The Scientific writings of James Smithson PDF Author: J. Smithson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 830

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Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on House Administration. Subcommittee on Library and Memorials
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 560

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Hearings, Reports and Prints of the House Committee on House Administration

Hearings, Reports and Prints of the House Committee on House Administration PDF Author: United States. Congress. House. Committee on House Administration
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Election law
Languages : en
Pages : 1286

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On the Mall in Washington, D.C.

On the Mall in Washington, D.C. PDF Author:
Publisher: Twenty-First Century Books
ISBN: 9780761323518
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 76

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Book Description
A guide to the monuments, memorials, museums, and gardens on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The Science of James Smithson

The Science of James Smithson PDF Author: Steven Turner
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588346935
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
Accessible exploration of the noteworthy scientific career of James Smithson, who left his fortune to establish the Smithsonian Institution. James Smithson is best known as the founder of the Smithsonian Institution, but few people know his full and fascinating story. He was a widely respected chemist and mineralogist and a member of the Royal Society, but in 1865, his letters, collection of 10,000 minerals, and more than 200 unpublished papers were lost to a fire in the Smithsonian Castle. His scientific legacy was further written off as insignificant in an 1879 essay published through the Smithsonian fifty years after his death--a claim that author Steven Turner demonstrates is far from the truth. By providing scientific and intellectual context to his work, The Science of James Smithson is a comprehensive tribute to Smithson's contributions to his fields, including chemistry, mineralogy, and more. This detailed narrative illuminates Smithson and his quest for knowledge at a time when chemists still debated thing as basic as the nature of fire, and struggled to maintain their networks amid the ever-changing conditions of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.