Description: 100 years ago in August of 1914, the Panama Canal opened to commercial shipping. Smithsonian scientists knew the canal would create major environmental changes and have spent the last 100 years documenting them.
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="380" caption="James Smithson bronze bust, commissioned by Paul E. Garber, historian emeritus at the National Air and Space Museum, made by sculptor Felix de Weldon, who stands next to it, De Weldon worked from an examination of Smithson's skull performed by Dr. J. Lawrence Angel, curator of Physical Anthropology in the National Museum
Description: This is a summary of the Smithsonian Institution Archives' 3rd Wikipedia edit-a-thon on the scientific field books in the Archives’ collections
Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="430" caption="United States National Museum Taxidermist Watson M. Perrygo, on one of his field trips to the Canal Zone Biological Area, Panama, is followed around by his devoted companion, a Baird's tapir, February 28, 1951, by Alexander Wetmore, Photographic print, Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7006, Alexander Wetmore
Description: Barbeque. Doughboy. Free trade. Pumple-nose. Smugglers. Cortan. Crockadore. Chopsticks. William Dampier, the 17th century explorer turned privateer/pirate, is credited with introducing these words, and more than 1,000 others, into the English vernacular. He was the first explorer to circumnavigate the globe three times, and created the first detailed record of Australian Flora
Description: In August 1996, the Smithsonian marked its 150th anniversary with a huge birthday celebration on the National Mall. For its sesquicentennial, a term which this author constantly forgets no matter how many times she looks it up, the Institution threw itself a two-day birthday party, sprinkled with special exhibit tents, concerts, nineteen birthday cakes, a special website, and
Description: We’re taking a glimpse into the work and life of Margaret Sordahl and other women at Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory stations around the world.