Description: For six seasons, beginning in 1984, the television series Smithsonian World opened new windows on the research and scientists at the Smithsonian Institution.
Description: Each Smithsonian Institution Archives collection has a life story. That narrative, much like the biography of a person, can explain how a collection's photographs, letters, and documents relate to each other. Closer inspection may also reveal hidden connections to other archival materials and can help in identifying photographers and writers. This new blog series will turn a
Description: Today’s science museums build on the efforts of biologist George Roemmert (1892-1952), whose “Microvivarium” projected images of amoebas and other microscopic creatures.
Description: On July 20, 1969, television broadcasters and Smithsonian visitors joined in watching history in the making when astronauts stepped onto the Moon.
Description: In a world drowning in images, where we swipe past photos of friends, relatives, and selves in mere seconds, a set of remarkable portraits taken in the 1910s and 1920s by Julian Papin Scott (1877-1961) deserve more considered attention. Sometimes, his subjects appear immersed in work, surrounded by microscopes, beakers, or stacks of books, as if unaware of the photographer.
Description: After successfully completing his 1925 European business trip, 29-year-old Watson Davis headed home on the S.S. Republic, boarding at Cherbourg, France, on October 2. The science journalist had covered the annual meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and discussed with Sir Richard Gregory (Editor of the journal Nature) the plausibility of
Description: On January 24, 1925, for the first time in over a century, a total solar eclipse would be visible across the northern part of the United States. How scientists used a dirigible to observe the phenomenon.
Description: May 11 is the anniversary of establishment of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). That 1976 legislation further ratified the influence of scientists on national policy, positioning them to provide ready advice to the President.