Smithsonian


The Smithsonian was established in 1848 by virtue of a bequeath from British scientist James Smithson. In the course of events The Smithsonian became a dual private and governmental institution to “increase the diffusion of knowledge among men.” The Smithsonian is in actuality 19 museums, research centers, a zoo in the Washington D.C metro with additional sites in New York and Virginia, Panama and elsewhere. The Smithsonian is a depository of art, artifacts, photos and historical documents. The Smithsonian publishes a monthly magazine and sponsors educational events and training for students and professionals.

Address

P.O. Box 37012 Smithsonian Inst.
Washington D.C., 20013-7012

News Office

Email

info [at] si [dot] edu

Phone

(202) 633-2400,

Fax

Contact




"Smithsonian" in the news:

Beyond sunlight: Explorers census 17,650 ocean species between edge of darkness and black abyss

Beyond sunlight: Explorers census 17,650 ocean species between edge of darkness and black abyss (w/ Video)

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 22, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (15) | comments 0

Census of Marine Life scientists have inventoried an astonishing abundance, diversity and distribution of deep sea species that have never known sunlight - creatures that somehow manage a living in a frigid ...


NASA Provides Venerable Hubble Hardware to Smithsonian

NASA Provides Venerable Hubble Hardware to Smithsonian

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Two key instruments from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have a new home in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington after being returned to Earth aboard space shuttle Atlantis ...


Smithsonian scientists find the frog legs trade may facilitate spread of pathogens

Scientists find frog legs trade may facilitate spread of pathogens

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 19, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Most countries throughout the world participate in the $40-million-per-year culinary trade of frog legs in some way, with 75 percent of frog legs consumed in France, Belgium and the United States. Scientists ...


Close-up movie shows hidden details in the birth of super-suns

Close-up movie shows hidden details in the birth of super-suns (w/ Video)

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 16, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (10) | comments 1

(PhysOrg.com) -- The constellation of Orion is a hotbed of massive star formation, most prominently in the Great Nebula that sits in Orion's sword. The glowing gas of the Nebula is powered by a group of young ...


You're being followed: Scientists track movement of living things

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Nov 13, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Almost 24 centuries after the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote his book, "On the Movement of Animals," modern scientists are still struggling to understand how, why, when and where living creatures move.


Submersibles discover top-secret Japanese submarines

Submersibles discover top-secret Japanese submarines

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 13, 2009 | popularity 3.2 / 5 (6) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- Two World War II Japanese submarines, designed with revolutionary technology to attack the U.S. mainland, have been discovered off the Hawaiian coast of Oʻahu. They are the I-14, which ...


Mysterious X-rays from a Nearby Galaxy

Mysterious X-rays from a Nearby Galaxy

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 13, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (15) | comments 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- The nucleus of an active galaxy, an AGN, contains a massive black hole that is vigorously accreting material. In the process it typically ejects jets of particles and radiates brightly at ...


A faraway planet intrigues: Exoplanet with extremely tilted orbit raises new interest in stellar astronomy

A faraway planet intrigues: Exoplanet with extremely tilted orbit raises new interest in stellar astronomy

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 12, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (12) | comments 6

(PhysOrg.com) -- Two teams of astronomers have found a planet outside the solar system that might be orbiting backwards compared to its star's rotation, a discovery that could shed light on how unique the ...


In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

In a Galaxy Far, Far Away...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 06, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 35

(PhysOrg.com) -- Astronomers have published the discovery of the farthest known object in the cosmos: a star that exploded when the universe was only 630 million years old -- only 4.6% of its current age. ...


Next year, according to the Chinese calendar, is the Year of the Tiger

For the tiger, a year closer to extinction

Biology / Ecology

created Oct 31, 2009 | popularity 3.3 / 5 (3) | comments 0

Next year, according to the Chinese calendar, is the Year of the Tiger but conservationists say the omens are inauspicious for an animal on the brink of extinction.


Dark Matter in a Galaxy

Dark Matter in a Galaxy

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 30, 2009 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (20) | comments 19

(PhysOrg.com) -- Stars, the most familiar objects in the night sky, make up only a tiny percentage of the total amount of matter in the universe -- about 2%.


Global warming cycles threaten endangered primate species

Global warming cycles threaten endangered primate species

Biology / Ecology

created Oct 27, 2009 | popularity 2.9 / 5 (17) | comments 5

Two Penn State University researchers have carried out one of the first-ever analyses of the effects of global warming on endangered primates. This innovative work by Graduate Student Ruscena Wiederholt and ...


The Explosive Disintegration of a Young Stellar System in Orion

The Explosive Disintegration of a Young Stellar System in Orion

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Oct 23, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (12) | comments 7

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Orion Nebula is one of the most beautiful sights of the winter night sky, its gas and dust glowing from the intense ultraviolet radiation of a cluster of massive young stars.


Two-million-year-old evidence shows tool-making hominins inhabited grassland environments

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Oct 21, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

In an article published in the open-access, peer-reviewed journal PLoS ONE on October 21, 2009, Dr Thomas Plummer of Queens College at the City University of New York, Dr Richard Potts of the Smithsonian Institution Nation ...


Scientists discover largest orb-weaving spider

Scientists discover largest orb-weaving spider

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 21, 2009 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (10) | comments 0

Researchers from the United States and Slovenia have discovered a new, giant Nephila species (golden orb weaver spider) from Africa and Madagascar and have published their findings in the Oct. 21 issue of the ...