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N0KFQ > TODAY 10.08.14 15:13l 67 Lines 3221 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 33114_N0KFQ
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Subj: Today in History - Aug 10
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Sent: 140810/1415Z 33114@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.60
Aug 10, 1846:
Smithsonian Institution created
After a decade of debate about how best to spend a bequest left
to America from an obscure English scientist, President James K.
Polk signs the Smithsonian Institution Act into law.
In 1829, James Smithson died in Italy, leaving behind a will with
a peculiar footnote. In the event that his only nephew died
without any heirs, Smithson decreed that the whole of his estate
would go to "the United States of America, to found at
Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an
Establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge."
Smithson's curious bequest to a country that he had never visited
aroused significant attention on both sides of the Atlantic.
Smithson had been a fellow of the venerable Royal Society of
London from the age of 22, publishing numerous scientific papers
on mineral composition, geology, and chemistry. In 1802, he
overturned popular scientific opinion by proving that zinc
carbonates were true carbonate minerals, and one type of zinc
carbonate was later named smithsonite in his honor.
Six years after his death, his nephew, Henry James Hungerford,
indeed died without children, and on July 1, 1836, the U.S.
Congress authorized acceptance of Smithson's gift. President
Andrew Jackson sent diplomat Richard Rush to England to negotiate
for transfer of the funds, and two years later Rush set sail for
home with 11 boxes containing a total of 104,960 gold sovereigns,
8 shillings, and 7 pence, as well as Smithson's mineral
collection, library, scientific notes, and personal effects.
After the gold was melted down, it amounted to a fortune worth
well over $500,000. After considering a series of
recommendations, including the creation of a national university,
a public library, or an astronomical observatory, Congress agreed
that the bequest would support the creation of a museum, a
library, and a program of research, publication, and collection
in the sciences, arts, and history. On August 10, 1846, the act
establishing the Smithsonian Institution was signed into law by
President James K. Polk.
Today, the Smithsonian is composed of 19 museums and galleries
including the recently announced National Museum of African
American History and Culture, nine research facilities throughout
the United States and the world, and the national zoo. Besides
the original Smithsonian Institution Building, popularly known as
the "Castle," visitors to Washington, D.C., tour the National
Museum of Natural History, which houses the natural science
collections, the National Zoological Park, and the National
Portrait Gallery. The National Museum of American History houses
the original Star-Spangled Banner and other artifacts of U.S.
history. The National Air and Space Museum has the distinction of
being the most visited museum in the world, exhibiting such
marvels of aviation and space history as the Wright brothers'
plane and Freedom 7, the space capsule that took the first
American into space. John Smithson, the Smithsonian Institution's
great benefactor, is interred in a tomb in the Smithsonian
Building.
73, K.O. n0kfq
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