Description: Today was the kickoff of the International Year of Chemistry 2011, and so we wanted to take the chance to introduce you to some of the chemists from our collections featured on the Smithsonian’s Flickr Commons. Our Flickr Commons sets are filled with photos both of chemistry greats that even the non-scientifically inclined among us celebrated in grade-school textbooks, and
Description: [edan-image:id=siris_sic_6861,size=300,right] Some students look forward eagerly to the new school year; others dread the end of summer and the long year ahead. How did the Smithsonian’s founding donor, James Smithson (1765-1829), feel about school? Smithson attended Oxford University in England from 1782 to 1786, receiving a Masters of Arts degree in chemistry and mineralogy.