Description: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="296" caption="This image from Mercury mission number four taken on Sept. 13, 1961 is just one of the many images that was written on by engineers. Credit: NASA/JSC/Arizona State University."][/caption] On May 16th, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the vicinity of Cape Canaveral to watch the Endeavor, the NASA space shuttle,
Description: Dr. Helene C. Muller-Landau, Lead Scientist, CTFS Global Forest Carbon Initiative, has researched the patterns, causes, and consequences of plant diversity for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute since 2008. As leader of the program, Muller-Landau strives to implement standardized measurements of forest carbon stocks and fluxes across forest research sites.
Description: Priscilla L. Strain has worked for the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies since 1974 as a Research Assistant, 1974-79, Geologist, 1979-87, and Program Manager, 1987–present. She is currently the curator of the museum’s lunar rock collection and manages the center’s exhibits and programs. #Groundbreaker
Description: Each week, the Archives features a woman who has been a groundbreaker at the Smithsonian, past or present, in a series titled Wonderful Women Wednesday.
Description: We’re lucky that our interns love coffee, because for this summer’s final project, I selected Russell Greenberg’s Field notes, Xalapa and Chiapas, Mexico, 2001 for a full conservation treatment. If you’ve not had your morning cup yet, you may be wondering why we celebrate his work on National Coffee Day. Dr. Greenberg was an ornithologist, founder and director of the
Description: Halloween is over, but you can prepare for next year’s festivities with these costume ideas from the Archives of American Art. [via Smithsonian Magazine]The National Zoo’s naked mole-rat colony is still in anarchy! [via DCist]See sixty of this year’s top wildlife photographs submitted to the Windland Smith Rice Awards either online or in person at the National Museum of
Description: What was the Saint Augustine Monster? According to Wikipedia, it was a globster—“an unidentified organic mass that washes up on the shoreline of an ocean or other body of water.” This great-grandaddy of globsters kept cryptozoologists speculating and scientists testing for a century—and a piece of it lives at the Smithsonian. The St. Augustine monster was discovered by two
Description: Senior Curator and Historian Portia James (1953-2015) pioneered a community-based approach at the Anacostia Community Museum and led the exhibitions, publications and collections programs. She researched African American material culture. #Groundbreaker
Description: Learn about the Smithsonian Institution Archive photographer, Michael Barnes, and his experience photographing Tuskegee Airmen and one of their original training planes.