The Smithsonian Institution is an American scientific research institution headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded by Englishman James Smithson in 1846 for the “increase and diffusion of knowledge”. The Institution’s research encompasses many disciplines, including archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, biology, ecology, geography, geology, history, marine science, materials science, mathematics and paleontology.
The Institution has nineteen museums and nine research facilities in seventeen states across the United States as well as Panama. The main museum is the National Museum of Natural History on the National Mall in Washington D.C., which is dedicated to advancing understanding of natural and cultural history through its collections, exhibitions and public programs. Other notable museums include the Air and Space Museum also on the National Mall; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden; the Renwick Gallery; and the Anacostia Community Museum.
The Institution’s research facilities include:
* The American Art Museum Study Center
* Conservation Biology Institute
* Cooperative Oxford Laboratory
* Forest Global Earth Observatory
* Marine Station at Woods Hole
* Migratory Bird Center In 1858 Dr. Spencer Fullerton Baird was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution with responsibility for its scientific activities. Under Baird’s leadership a number of important scientific expeditions were organized including George Perkins Marsh’s study of climatic change; John Wesley Powell’s Colorado River expedition; Clarence King’s Fortieth Parallel Survey exploring mineral resources along a transcontinental railroad route; Ferdinand V. Hayden’s geological surveys of Yellowstone Park region; Joseph LeConte’s Sierra Nevada expedition; Nathaniel Prentice Banks’ Amazon Basin expedition (1865-66); Robert Erskine Wardle’s North Pacific Exploring Expedition (1860-62); Henry Wetherbee Henshaw’s Ornithological Biographies (1884-85); Edward Sabin Bennett’s Alaskan Fur Seal Investigations (1886-87) among others. These expeditions greatly expanded both the collections of specimens and data available to researchers at the Smithsonian Institution.