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Author: Steven Turner
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588346900
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 305
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Book Description
"A quirky, oddly touching book that allows us to step, for a few moments, inside the world of a practicing Enlightenment scientist, to sit beside him as he fans the flames of a candle with his little blowpipe, waiting for that small mineral in front of him to melt and yield its secrets." —Wall Street Journal An 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and a member of the Royal Society, but in 1865, his letters, collection of 10,000 minerals, and more than 200 unpublished papers were lost to a fire in the Smithsonian Castle.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.
Author: Paul Jett
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781904982722
Category : Art and science
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
This book covers the latest research in the field of ancient Asian metal-working in South and Southeast Asia, China and West Asia, concentrating mainly on copper alloys.
Author: Steven Turner
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1588346900
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Get Book Here
Book Description
"A quirky, oddly touching book that allows us to step, for a few moments, inside the world of a practicing Enlightenment scientist, to sit beside him as he fans the flames of a candle with his little blowpipe, waiting for that small mineral in front of him to melt and yield its secrets." —Wall Street Journal An 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.
Author: Noel D. Broadbent
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1935623362
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 584
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Book Description
Professor Noel D. Broadbent is one of Sweden's foremost experts on north Swedish archaeology and literally wrote the book on the prehistory of the Skellefteå region on the North Bothnian coast. This knowledge is now brought to bear on the issue of Saami origins. The focus is on the successful adaptive strategies of Saami societies over thousands of years - a testimony to Saami resiliency, of relevance to the survival of indigenous societies worldwide today.
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 574
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Book Description
Author: Roger D. Stone
Publisher: University Press of New England
ISBN: 151260061X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 274
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Book Description
A Yale-educated Renaissance man, S. Dillon Ripley was a Òcourtly, determined, hugely ambitious, energetic, funny, and colorful ornithologist, conservationist, and cultural standard-bearerÓ who led the Smithsonian Institution for twenty years, during its greatest period of growth. During his watch, from 1964 to 1984, the SI added eight new museums and seven new research centers and began publication of the Smithsonian magazine. It was RipleyÕs vision that transformed Òthe nationÕs atticÓ from a dusty archive to a vibrant educational and cultural institution, just as he had transformed YaleÕs Peabody museum before it. Prior to his career at the SI, and running parallel with it for the rest of his life, was RipleyÕs work as an ornithologist, begun in New Guinea in the 1930s, continued through his PhD from Harvard in 1943, and culminating in his landmark thirty-year project documenting the bird life of India. His lifelong passion for ornithology led him to positions of leadership in worldwide nature conservation. In the midst of these endeavors he was recruited in 1944 to the Office of Strategic Services, a Yalie club at the outset that became the forerunner of the modern CIA. Posted to Ceylon, he recruited and ran agents who reported from and infiltrated Japanese-held Southeast Asia. Roger D. Stone worked with Ripley on the board of the World Wildlife Fund. He has access to the Ripley familyÕs archives and photos, as well as to the voluminous archives at the Smithsonian and the National Archives, and to over forty hours of transcribed interviews, conducted with Ripley at the Smithsonian.
Author: Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 1944466037
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 462
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Book Description
Set against the backdrop of twentieth-century America, against the social fabric of segregation and the broad canvas of foreign war, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr.: American tells a compelling story of personal achievement against formidable odds. Born into an era when potential was measured according to race, Davis was determined to be judged by his character and deeds—to succeed as an American, and not to fail because of color. With twelve million citizens —the black population of the United States—pulling for him, Davis entered West Point in 1932, resolved to become an officer even though official military directives stated that blacks were decidedly inferior, lacking in courage, superstitious, and dominated by moral and character weaknesses. “Silenced” by his peers, for four years spoken to only in the line of duty, David did not falter. He graduated 35th in a class of 276 and requested assignment to the Army Air Corps, then closed to blacks. He went on to lead the 99th Pursuit Squadron and the 332nd Fighter Group—units known today as the Tuskegee Airmen—into air combat over North Africa and Italy during World War II. His performance, and that of his men, enabled the Air Force to integrate years before civilian society confronted segregation. Thereafter, in a distinguished career in the Far East, Europe, and the United States, Davis commanded both black and white units. Davis’s story is interwoven with often painful accounts of the discrimination he and his wife, Agatha, endured as a fact of American military and civilian life. Traveling across the country, unable to find food and lodging, they were often forced to make their way nonstop. Once on base, they were denied use of clubs and, in the early days, were never allowed to attend social activities. Though on-base problems were solved by President Truman’s integration of the military in 1949, conditions in the civilian community continued, eased but not erased by enactment of President Johnson’s legislative program in the 1960s. Overseas, however, where relations were unfettered by racism, the Davises enjoyed numerous friendships within the military and with such foreign dignitaries as President and Madame Chiang Kai-shek. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., retired in 1970 as a three-star general. His autobiography, capturing the fortitude and spirit with which he and his wife met the pettiness of segregation, bears out Davis’s conviction that discrimination—both within the military and in American society—reflects neither this nation’s ideals nor the best use of its human resources.
Author: Edwards Park
Publisher: Random House Value Publishing
ISBN: 9780517119556
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 504
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Book Description
Features the masterpieces of art, history, invention, and nature selected from the Smithsonian exhibition.
Author: Victor G. Springer
Publisher: Smithsonian Institution
ISBN: 158834553X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0
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Book Description
Sharks in Question is a collective response to the thousands of questions about sharks received annually by scientists at Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. Written in a question-and-answer format accompanied by more than 100 photographs and illustrations, the book provides knowledge for a general audience as well as students of marine biology. Victor Springer provides a comprehensive review of the biology of sharks in three broad divisions: shark biology and evolutionary history, the “supersharks” notable for their life history, size, or temperament, and the interactions between sharks and humans, including the risk of shark attack.
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309182476
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 100
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Book Description
This report assesses whether the Smithsonian Institution should continue to receive direct federal appropriations for its scientific research programs or if this funding should be transferred to a peer-reviewed program open to all researchers in another agency. The report concludes that the National Museum of Natural History, the National Zoological Park, and the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education in Suitland should remain exempt from having to compete for federal research dollars because they make unique contributions to the scientific and museum communities. Three other Smithsonian research programs should continue to receive federal funding since they are performing science of the highest quality and already compete for much of their government research money.
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309086337
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 100
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Book Description
This report assesses whether the Smithsonian Institution should continue to receive direct federal appropriations for its scientific research programs or if this funding should be transferred to a peer-reviewed program open to all researchers in another agency. The report concludes that the National Museum of Natural History, the National Zoological Park, and the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education in Suitland should remain exempt from having to compete for federal research dollars because they make unique contributions to the scientific and museum communities. Three other Smithsonian research programs should continue to receive federal funding since they are performing science of the highest quality and already compete for much of their government research money.
