The Science Of James Smithson

Author : Steven Turner
Publisher : Smithsonian Institution
ISBN 13 : 1588346900
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.02/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Science of James Smithson written by Steven Turner and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2020-11-03 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accessible exploration of the noteworthy scientific career of James Smithson, who left his fortune to establish the Smithsonian Institution. James Smithson is best known as the founder of the Smithsonian Institution, but few people know his full and fascinating story. He was a widely respected chemist and mineralogist and a member of the Royal Society, but in 1865, his letters, collection of 10,000 minerals, and more than 200 unpublished papers were lost to a fire in the Smithsonian Castle. His scientific legacy was further written off as insignificant in an 1879 essay published through the Smithsonian fifty years after his death--a claim that author Steven Turner demonstrates is far from the truth. By providing scientific and intellectual context to his work, The Science of James Smithson is a comprehensive tribute to Smithson's contributions to his fields, including chemistry, mineralogy, and more. This detailed narrative illuminates Smithson and his quest for knowledge at a time when chemists still debated thing as basic as the nature of fire, and struggled to maintain their networks amid the ever-changing conditions of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.

Author : Heather Ewing
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 1408820757
Total Pages : 577 pages
Book Rating : 4.59/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Lost World of James Smithson written by Heather Ewing and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2010-12-15 with total page 577 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1836 the United States government received a strange and unprecedented gift - a bequest of 104,960 gold sovereigns (then worth half a million dollars) to establish a foundation in Washington 'for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men'. The Smithsonian Institution, as it would eventually be called, grew into the largest museum and research complex in the world. Yet it owes its existence to an Englishman who never set foot in the United States, and who has remained a shadowy figure for more than a hundred and fifty years. Smithson lived a restless life in the capitals of Europe during the turbulent years of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars; at one time he was trailed by the French secret police, and later languished as a prisoner of war in Denmark for four long years. Yet despite a certain a penchant for gambling and fine living, he had, by the time of his death in Paris in 1829, amassed a financial fortune and a wealth of scientific papers that he left to the new democracy America. Spurned by his natural father and his country, he would be acknowledged for his own achievements in the New World. Drawing on unpublished diaries and letters from archives all over Europe and the United States, Heather Ewing tells the full and compelling story for the first time, revealing a life lived at the heart of the English Enlightenment and illuminating the mind that sparked the creation of America's greatest museum.

Author : James Smithson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 180 pages
Book Rating : 4.48/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Scientific Writings of James Smithson written by James Smithson and published by . This book was released on 1879 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : James Smithson
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780598420534
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.33/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Scientific Writings of James Smithson written by James Smithson and published by . This book was released on 1879 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : Smithson James
Publisher : Legare Street Press
ISBN 13 : 9781020894961
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Scientific Writings of James Smithson written by Smithson James and published by Legare Street Press. This book was released on 2023-07-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection gathers the scientific works of James Smithson, an English chemist and mineralogist who also contributed greatly to the fields of geology and physics. Smithson is best known for bequeathing his fortune to found the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. His scientific writings cover a wide range of subjects, from crystallography to meteorology, and are marked by rigorous experimentation and a commitment to advancing knowledge through the scientific method. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Author : Nina Burleigh
Publisher : New Word City
ISBN 13 : 161230849X
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.94/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America's Greatest Museum written by Nina Burleigh and published by New Word City. This book was released on 2015-03-13 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In her illuminating and dramatic biography The Stranger and the Statesman, New York Times bestselling author Nina Burleigh reveals a little-known slice of history in the life and times of the man responsible for the creation of the United States' principal cultural institution, the Smithsonian. It was one of the nineteenth century's greatest philanthropic gifts - and one of its most puzzling mysteries. In 1829, a wealthy English naturalist named James Smithson left his library, mineral collection, and entire fortune to the "United States of America, to found... an establishment for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men" - even though he had never visited the United States or known any Americans. In this fascinating book, Burleigh pieces together the reclusive benefactor's life, beginning with his origins as the Paris-born illegitimate son of the first Duke of Northumberland and a wild adventuress who preserved for her son a fortune through gall and determination. The book follows Smithson through his university years and his passionate study of minerals across Europe during the chaos of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Detailed are his imprisonment - simply for being an Englishman in the wrong place - his experiences in the gambling dens of France, and his lonely and painstaking scientific pursuits. After Smithson's death, nineteenth-century American politicians were given the task of securing his half-million dollars - the equivalent today of $50 million - and then trying to determine how to increase and diffuse knowledge from the muddy, brawling new city of Washington. Burleigh discloses how Smithson's bequest was nearly lost due to fierce battles among many clashing Americans - Southern slavers, states' rights advocates, nation-builders, corrupt frontiersmen, and Anglophobes who argued over whether a gift from an Englishman should even be accepted. She also reveals the efforts of the unsung heroes, mainly former president John Quincy Adams, whose tireless efforts finally saw Smithson's curious notion realized in 1846, with a castle housing the United States' first and greatest cultural and scientific establishment.

Author : James Smithson
Publisher : Forgotten Books
ISBN 13 : 9780331221480
Total Pages : 174 pages
Book Rating : 4.89/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Scientific Writings of James Smithson (Classic Reprint) written by James Smithson and published by Forgotten Books. This book was released on 2018-04-05 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Scientific Writings of James Smithson No. 1 consisted of Tabasheer extracted from the bamboo by Dr. Russell himself. No. 2 had been partly taken from the reed in Dr. Rus sel's presence, and partly brought to him at different times by a person who worked in bamboos. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Author : National Research Council
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309182476
Total Pages : 100 pages
Book Rating : 4.78/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Funding Smithsonian Scientific Research written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-01-28 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report assesses whether the Smithsonian Institution should continue to receive direct federal appropriations for its scientific research programs or if this funding should be transferred to a peer-reviewed program open to all researchers in another agency. The report concludes that the National Museum of Natural History, the National Zoological Park, and the Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education in Suitland should remain exempt from having to compete for federal research dollars because they make unique contributions to the scientific and museum communities. Three other Smithsonian research programs should continue to receive federal funding since they are performing science of the highest quality and already compete for much of their government research money.

Author : William Jones Rhees
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.36/5 ( download)

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Download or read book James Smithson and His Bequest written by William Jones Rhees and published by . This book was released on 1880 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Author : James Rollins
Publisher : William Morrow
ISBN 13 : 9780062843234
Total Pages : 441 pages
Book Rating : 4.30/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Demon Crown written by James Rollins and published by William Morrow. This book was released on 2017 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Off the coast of Brazil, a team of scientists discovers a horror like no other, an island where all life has been eradicated, consumed, and possessed by a species beyond imagination. Before they can report their discovery, a mysterious agency attacks the group, killing them all, save one: an entomologist, an expert on venomous creatures, Professor Ken Matsui from Cornell University. Strangest of all, this inexplicable threat traces back to a terrifying secret buried a century ago beneath the National Mall: a cache of bones preserved in amber..."--