Description: Long ago and far away, before gray hairs and creaky knees, before history became my passion, I was an undergraduate physics major. Physics seemed fascinating and beautiful, if difficult. Later, after career paths led into history and science policy, I learned that physics, however elegant, did not reside in a cultural vacuum. Its people and discoveries coexisted with
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: Lonnie G. Bunch III (b. 1952) became the 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution on June 15, 2019.Bunch is the first African American and first historian to be appointed to the role. Best known as founding director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture from 2005 to 2019, Bunch has had a long career with the Smithsonian. He was raised in New