- Smithsonian Institution
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/smith soh"nee euhn/an institution in Washington, D.C., founded 1846 with a grant left by James Smithson, for the increase and diffusion of knowledge: U.S. national museum and repository.
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U.S. research institution.Enabled by the bequest of the English chemist James Smithson (1765–1829), it was established in Washington, D.C., by an 1846 act of Congress. The Smithsonian administers numerous bureaus, including the Freer Gallery of Art, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of History and Technology, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Zoological Park, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.* * *
research institution founded by the bequest of the English scientist James Smithson (Smithson, James). Although it was held by John C. Calhoun and other members of Congress that the federal government had no power to accept such a gift, it was finally secured, largely through the efforts of John Quincy Adams, and in 1846 the institution was established by congressional act at Washington, D.C.The Smithsonian is governed by a board of regents consisting of the U.S. vice president, the chief justice, three senators, three representatives, and six nonofficials. The bureaus under the administration of the Smithsonian Institution include the Archives of American Art, the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Decorative Arts and Design, the Freer Gallery of Art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the International Exchange Service, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the National Air and Space Museum, the National Armed Forces Museum Advisory Board, the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of American Art, the National Museum of History and Technology, the National Museum of Natural History, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Zoological Park, the Radiation Biology Laboratory, the Science Information Exchange, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery (for Asian and Middle Eastern art), the National Museum of African Art, and the National Museum of the American Indian. A monthly magazine is published under the Smithsonian name by a support group.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
